5 Ideas for Welcoming The Gifts of Autumn
Here in Ontario, autumn has arrived, cool and collected. The playground in my backyard that was teeming with 20+ children for the last few weeks of summer is now empty. Most days are cloudy. The sparkling bright sheen that clothes the land with summer’s golden rays is now replaced by a mute grey atmosphere.
Even a five-degree temperature drop means the difference between my light, flowy dresses and the need for a pair of leggings.
Embracing The Gifts Of Each Seasons
For the last few years, I’ve made a conscious effort to embrace the change in seasons, not to resist it. It’s quite common for people here to complain about the weather. (I don’t know if it’s just a Canadian/American thing. I wonder if there is a place in the world where the people, as a cultural, appreciate the seasons!) It seems like we are never satisfied with how hot or how cold it is. I find that wishing for the weather to be different is like wishing for my hair to grow faster. I could pray and cry and weep, and still, it won’t. What’s the point in resisting it? God made the seasons beautiful, and they keep life interesting!
I had three or four years where I managed to skip the Canadian winters by traveling to warmer climates and I learned that even constant sunlight can be exhausting. My favourite season is summer, but endless summer is NOT pleasant. I see the seasons as gifts, and I personally choose to receive those gifts.
Since I’m in Canada for now, into the foreseeable future, I’ve made the change in seasons something to celebrate, to embrace and to welcome.
I’m feeling that this weekend, I’ll spend some time to really welcome autumn in. The weather forecast tells me I won’t need my shorts until 2021. Here are some I’ll be doing to transition into autumn. I will:
Organize my tea cupboard. I call Autumn-Winter “tea season”. It’s the time of year where I can develop the habit of making myself a relaxing cup of tea every evening. It’s the most comforting way to spend chilly evenings and it’s also very healthy!
Put my shorts and summer clothes away and organize my closet for my cozy outfits! I already have a set of knit sweaters that I wear all winter all, and it’s time to bring them to centerstage. By physically clearing away my summer clothes, I’ll feel like I mentally and spiritually have more space to welcome the gifts of the cooler seasons.
Pull out my candles and create a corner of my house to light them. My mom loves to light tea light candles when she writes her devotionals in the morning and today I also lit a candle! There’s something about the feeling a living source of light. When there is a candle burning beside me, I feel like God’s comforting presence with me.
Look up recipes for hearty soups I can make this autumn and winter. Salad season is gone! Salads have no appeal to me in the winter. I need food that is comforting and warm. I currently have a purple cabbage and lots of carrots in my fridge, so I’m going make of list of soups that sound yummy. This gives me something nourishing to look forward to.
Book a date with your soul to reflect. Grab your favourite journal and spend time with the questions below.
Preparing Spiritual Space
Beyond the practical aspects of welcome autumn, there’s also the spiritual shifts of autumn. As I consider what autumn means, I look to nature for queues. Plants stop actively growing. Leaves are starting to change colour and trees will soon lose their leaves. I recently read that this cycle of slowing down and releasing actually gives plants nutrients for the next season of growth. As the plants and leaves decompose in the soil, they release micronutrients into the soil which give life to plants in the next season.
What is God gently inviting me to release?
What am I being called to let “die”, knowing that the growth was not wasted?
How can I give a last “hoorah” and celebrate that which is over?
Just like the leaves change into splendid colours before they say goodbye, perhaps I should also do something special for the aspects of myself that I will be letting go of. This would be new for me. Historically, autumn felt like a new season of work. School starts again in autumn, new work projects begin, as everyone seems to want to take advantage of the new rhythm to accomplish more.
Interestingly, nature does not try to accomplish more during autumn. It slows down and lets go.
The word that comes to me for my autumn is:
Steadiness
During the autumn, some plants are still alive. They haven’t been frozen to death, but the air is not warm enough for them to be actively growing.
This autumn, in the space between summer, which is now over, and winter, which can bring things to a solid halt, I want to walk steadily. Instead of trying to work harder, I want to live with steadiness. I choose to live with an acute awareness of the best thing for each season of my life. I want to experience the depth that comes from sauntering slowly through a forest.
Infinite Love,
Anita
