This Autumn Day

You crown the year with your goodness. Psalm 65: 11

O sacred season of autumn, be my teacher
For I wish to learn the virtue of contentment
As I gaze upon your full-coloured beauty
I sense all about you an at-home-ness 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.
Edward Hays

I thank you for the wind
that clears the fog and clog of life,
for chimneys that allow air and warmth to move through our lives,
for the texture of the bricks and tiles.
I thank you for house tops and street lights
and for the sound of traffic moving.
I thank you for TV and satellite dishes.
These open the world up to people in their little dwellings.
So much energy, so much enterprise –
the friendly smiles of Sister Earth.