Experiencing autumn as time for reflection

My favorite season -- autumn! After the heat, vacations and activity of spring and summer, I crave the serenity and quiet of fall. Autumn is a time when leaves switch colors and vivid changes occur. It's a spell to turn within, to shed the old and reflect on what was, and what will again be.

Squirrels hurry to store food for the harsh winter, and leaves turn to shades of orange, yellow and brown -- then shrivel up, die and fall to earth. The crusty debris from nature drops, but all is not gone. For even then, what is seemingly lost and useless still makes a contribution to the richness of the soil, fertilizing the new life that's expected in the future. You see, even though death seems tragic at the time, from that passing comes what is fresh and new.

The trees and perennial plants merely shed their garments of leaves and blossoms for a while. Then they rest and wait with hope -- refusing to despair.

Our lives are like that. We experience many autumns, physically, spiritually and emotionally. The frosty air and crisp, crunching leaves revive my spirit and propel me forward. I kick the piles of foliage and listen to the sound. While watching their dust I see an upcoming time of rest, planning and letting go of what was. I join nature in preparing for a deeper time of hibernation -- winter.

Days become shorter and the nights longer. But the blackness of evening brings a cozy blanket of contemplation. Although activity thrives during the autumn and winter, too, there's a different aura present. One can think about his endeavors -- why he attempted them, and where they've brought him.

Perhaps your autumn is learning to cope with the death of someone significant, you've lost a job, a divorce took place or a child disappointed you. A relative had to move to a nursing home. Your self-esteem is at low ebb. Have you lost your dreams?

God allows the spiritual seasons of our lives to coincide with the physical seasons. There's hope there. Regardless of droughts, floods or failed crops, there's always another tomorrow. More rain eventually comes to counteract the drought, floodwaters dry up and a profitable crop surfaces when the time is right. If spring and summer were always present there would be no time to regenerate. Autumn brings wisdom, reflection and time to repair and plan. New chances and new life are promised.

What is your life yielding this autumn? Can you recognize what you've planted and what you've reaped, and why, in your spiritual and physical life? We need this period of fall -- of yield and collecting and gathering -- to see where we are and what direction we must now take.

There's beauty in passing from the green productivity of summer into the shadowy hues and sluggishness of the fall, both in the sacred and the secular. All things change, somehow. There are lessons to be learned from our times of activity and productivity. But we can only find what God is attempting to show us by stepping back, ridding ourselves of some of our leaves of dogged purpose and just being still for a while.

Indeed, autumn is a time of ambiguity. The winds blow causing flags to furl and unfurl, but they remain connected to their pole -- that center that holds them. For when the storm subsides they will know life's contentment and lounge in the breeze.

So, what autumn are you experiencing now? Regardless, remember God is there in all seasons -- life and death.

Ellen Shuck holds degrees in psychology, religious education and spiritual direction and provides spiritual direction to people at her office.