Aligning with Grace

We are almost half way into a new month, and I am beginning to think of the fall season... I am beginning to look forward to nesting, to journeying inward, to curling up on the couch with a  warm throw, and a steaming cup of tea... It is a time for reflection, and greater contemplation... This morning I read an article by Christine Valters Paintner, "Abbess" of Abbey of the Arts, an online virtual monastery, that a wonderful friend introduced me to, and she spoke of autumn and winter and being the seasons of the monk. So true! After the buoyancy and openness of the summer months, there is a true desire for me to retreat, and to give myself wholly to the coming season... The days are getting shorter, the sun sets earlier, and in a few days the Autumnal Exquinox will arrive, followed by the High Holy Days... Paintner began her article with this beautiful poem by Rilke, which I shall leave you with, and I've included another autumn poem by Rilke translated b...

A season ends, and so it must if it is to yield its turf to a new one... The days are getting shorter, and the darkness lingers longer into the morning... The warmer days will soon acquiesce to the onslaught of cooler and crisper days... This is simply the nature of things... And here I am, two weeks after having returned from the mountains out west, and still my head seems to be up in those clouds... So many projects and plans had I laid out for this summer, and nothing turned out as I had imagined. I lay out some more plans for the coming months, curious as to whether defined goals will be met. But in the final analysis, does it matter? Life is about the journey - not the destination - you'd think I would have learned that by now. And it is certainly always about the lessons - so many of them - always arriving in constant succession - a never ending flow and stream... Thus we reflected, my friend and I, as we lunched and sipped on dark rich coffee - our conversation...