“Eternal One who circles the seasons with ease, teach me about Earth’s natural cycle of turning from one season to another.  Remind me often of how she opens herself to the dying and rising rotations, the coming and the going of each of the four seasons.  Open me today to the teachings of the season of autumn.

When I accept only the beautiful and reject the tattered, torn parts of who I am, when I treat things that are falling apart as my enemies, walk me among the dying leaves, let them tell me about their power to energize Earth’s soil by their decomposition and their formation of enriching humus.

When I fear the loss of my youthfulness and refuse to accept the reality of aging, turn my face to the brilliant colors of autumn trees, open my spirit to the mellow resonance of autumn sunsets and the beauty of the changing land.

When I refuse to wait with the mystery of the unknown, when I struggle to keep control rather than to let life evolve,
wrap me in the darkening days of autumn and encourage me to wait patiently for clarity and vision as I live with uncertainty and insecurity.

When I grow tired of using my own harvest of gifts to benefit others, take me to the autumn fields where Earth shares the bounty of summer and allows her lands to surrender their abundance.”

—from “Circle of Life” by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr