It’s funny how 55 degrees when it’s bright and sunny feels so different than when it’s damp and rainy. The same temperature as far as the thermometer goes, but a totally different feeling for us. It’s not like Gene Kelly singing and dancing in the rain. We feel the dankness run right through us. Most of us just want a warm blanket, a cup of tea or mulled cider, and a cat on our laps to add that extra warmth.
Poets evoke what we think of as a soft spring rain and the blustery rains of October. Their words as well as the words of Scripture resonate in us. Perhaps it’s the knowledge that following fall comes winter with its starkness. And, of course, we worry about the signs of a rising Covid infection level.
During this time sharing our own bounty, whether of material goods or time, can move us beyond the darkness caused the non-sunny weather. We wanted this few days of rain in late July or August, of course, when over we would have warm sunny days. The warmth we want must come from our hearts.
Prayer for the Day
As the leaves begin to turn, Holy Sustainer of our lives,
May we be thankful for the beauty of autumn;
Let not the rains outside become rains in our hearts,
But trust that beyond the winter to come is the spring.
Grant that we are open to your Spirit looking to the future with hope.
In the name of the One who is our center of hope,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
That is the way leaves fall around a tree in autumn, a tree unaware of the rain running down its sides, of the sun or of the frost, and of life gradually retreating inward. The tree does not die. It waits.
- Hermann Hesse, German poet and writer (1877-1962)
Go sit upon the lofty hill and turn your eyes around
Where waving woods and waters wild do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sound is faint on them – the summer flowers depart,
Sit still – as all transformed to stone – except your musing heart.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English poet (1806-1861)
The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God will stand forever.
Isaiah 40: 7