O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher, for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment. As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty, I sense all about you an at-homeness with your amber riches.
You are the season of retirement, of full barns and harvested fields. The cycle of growth has ceased, and the busy work of giving life is now completed. I sense in you no regrets; you've lived a full life.
I live in a society that is ever-restless, always eager for more mountains to climb, seeking happiness through more and more possessions. As a child of my culture, I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received; may I know that it’s enough, that my striving can cease in the abundance of God’s grace.
May I know the contentment that allows the totality of my energies to come to full flower. May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.
As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty, let me also take delight in the abundance of the simple things of life which are the true source of joy. With golden glow of peaceful contentment may I truly appreciate this autumn day. (Ed Hays, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim)
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O falling leaves of autumn, what mysteries of death you proclaim to my unwilling self.What eternal truths you disturb in the webbings of my protected heart
What wildness you evoke in the gusty dance of emptying winds
What mellow tenderness you bravely breathe in your required surrender
What challenge you engender through your painful twists and turnings
What howl of homelessness you shriek with your exile of departure
What daring task you evoke as you feed the hungry soil.
O falling leaves of autumn, with each stem that breaks, with each layer of perishing,
You teach me what is required, if I am to grow before I die. (Joyce Rupp, The Circle of Life)
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