Slideshow image

I call it the spiritual practice of fall. We all feel the chill in the air, smell the high bush cranberries in the woods, hear the cranes migrating, see the mushrooms bursting up from the ground and the last of the blossoms on fireweed. It’s my favorite season. And it has some inherent time-honored spiritual lessons to teach.

Life comes and goes in seasons. There is the rhythm of receiving the gifts of each season and then letting them go. And in the letting go, wistful as if may be, or even difficult, there is beauty as well. There would be no glistening blueberries without the end of summer. No brilliant yellow leaves turning and shining in the sun. No salmon reaching spawning grounds. Letting go opens space for what is possible now. Receive it gently. 

It is the season of quieting down. Raging rivers gradually recede and clear and slow. Leaves form a quiet carpet on the earth. Bears seek their winter dens. The days grown shorter and darker nights call us to go more inside again. So too we can quiet down the business of our summer life and listen to the inner voice, calling us to deeper understandings and faith.  Be still. Listen into the silence.

And this season displays all the fruits of the summer. Farmer’s markets bulge with produce from the gardens, apples ripen on trees, freezers boast the gifts of fish and game. May we be nourished by the abundance and nourishment of God’s love in all these things. Sense it, receive it, and trust it.

Turn with the season. Rest with the change, without resistance. Fall into grace.

Pastor Marcia Wakeland is a retired ELCA pastor, a spiritual director and a listening advocate. She is interested in the actual experience of having faith and how that is lived out. She can be reached at mwakeland@gmail.com for comments or more questions Her ongoing blog of living out spiritual practices is listeninglife.live