Feast Your Eyes

 

Beautiful Autumn

“…Autumn is a king’s progress

Largesse lies ripe on the land

up, down the furrow your Midas touch

rains gold,

rainbows are from your glance.

Fall of rain, evenfall, all, all, is blessing.”

Daniel Berrigan (from Earth Prayers, p.318; Harper San Francisco; 1991)

          This is the most beautiful autumn we’ve had here in Alabama in many years. Folks are attributing it to the excessive amount of rain this year, and perhaps that’s so, but I think it’s the blessing of God, who knew how much we needed it. For me, it’s as distracting as springtime. All I want to do is stand outside and gaze into the trees. I’ll find myself listening to someone else talk, while I’m staring out a window at the light coming through the russet leaves of the crepe myrtles. The whole world is bathed in golden light. I feel like I’m in a Franko Zeffirelli movie. According to Jim Bishop, “Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”

          I received a text from a friend yesterday containing a reading he thought I would like. It is all about being positive rather than negative. It begins, “Ok, here it comes—the single most significant piece of spiritual advice I ever received. Are you ready? Stop complaining!” In Angeles Arrien’s work on leadership, she listed this as one of the four universal addictions: “The addiction to being fixated on what’s not working rather than what is working.” According to her, this addiction keeps us from having a vision of wholeness and intensifies our negative experience. I’ve been guilty of that a lot lately. But one look at the trees outside and all is right with the world. Yesterday, when it rained, and winded, yellow, orange and red leaves literally filled the air. It was magical. As Andrea Gibson noted, “The leaves are falling…like they’re in love with the ground.”

          I agree with Nathaniel Hawthorn, “I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.” I hope you take some time to go outside today and bask in this beautiful season. Soon it will be too cold. So hie thee hence!

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane