Yesterday I saw it, not at first, but when I looked in the rear view mirror on my way home from the office (Yes, a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the office – but I did marry a lovely couple). A sure sign of the changing season – a reddish orange maple leaf caught in the rear window wiper.
I waited until it was safe to pull over, get out of the car and retrieve it. The chill of the early morning must have given the tree the message -- summer is almost over. Well, technically we have three weeks left and so more days of temperatures in the 80s, but you can feel the cool air in the morning.
The squirrels know it, busy burying acorns from the neighbor’s oak tree that have blown into the yard, and some of the summer birds re beginning to leave. For the most part, it’s still lush and green, but that will soon change as nature is transformed. Some of us hang onto the very last bits of summer we can, looking for the warmth of the sun to embrace us.
Prayer for the Day
Fountain of life, we m this day, during a time of change and ferment;
We want to drink you in as cool water on a summer’s day
To breathe you in as our lungs fill with the rich sea air,
To hold you in as you hold us.
Help us, Breath of life, to discern your vibrant presence among us,
As we seek communion with each other, through your grace.
Lifting our spirits through the One we follow,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Thoughts for the Day
Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night.
Hal Borland, American writer and naturalist (1900-1978)
Summer was over in twenty minutes that day. Finished. At four o'clock in the afternoon the roses were quiet on their stems, full-blown, fulfilled; the water in the pool was warm; the leaves on the trees quiet, too, and green. The cat lay with his belly to the sun, steeped in heat.
Elizabeth Enright, American writer
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
The sun knows its time for setting.
You make darkness and it is night,
When all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
Psalm 104: 19-20