Tuesday, November 6, 2018

A Time to Every Purpose Under Heaven

it is that time of year when the trees are covered in leaves of red, yellow, and gold just before they fall to the ground.  here in the mountains, fall has been especially colorful this year, and, as we drive through the countryside or look from our deck, we see displays of nature at its most beautiful.  we've had our first frost of the season and the first freeze is predicted for later in the week.  the pilot on the gas logs has been lit.  the flames have danced in it for several evenings already.  the hvac system has been switched from cooling to heating.  daylight saving time has ended, and all the clocks in the house have been reset to "real" time.  we're already a week into november.  before we know it, thanksgiving and christmas will be over.  2018 will soon end.

there's something magical about autumn.  you breathe it in as the crisp, clean air enters your body.  the cycle of change that occurs each year takes precedence over the humdrum of everyday life.  i'm reminded that there are large arcs that govern our existence.  the changing seasons are a part of these patterns.  like the regular rhythm of nature, our lives have a rhythm.  we move from the dependency of infancy to the increasing independence of childhood and adolescence to young adulthood, then middle age, followed by becoming elderly, and finally our lives end as surely as the year comes to an end as december becomes january.

i've reach the next-to-last stage in my life's cycle.  like the characteristics of the seasons of the year, each phase of life has its own beauty.  i must say that old age has been a wonderful time of life for me.  i have the luxury of planning my days without being governed by a clock.  i can rise when i please and go to bed when i please.  i can eat when i'm hungry, rather than eating to conform to someone else's schedule that is imposed on me.  i can plan my days around what i want to accomplish rather than what an employer tells me i must accomplish, and, if i want to be lazy, i don't have to accomplish anything at all.  i have a freedom that i've never had before.

sure, there are aches and pains.  i don't move as fast as i used to.  i take more pills.  i tire more easily.  in spite of all that, life is good.  it is as if i spent my whole life preparing for this time, and i'm enjoying being in the last chapter of life before death puts a period at the end of the last sentence.  last night, my wife and i pulled out our calendars and began noting the dates when we are going to concerts and going to visit family during the upcoming holiday season.  we got excited about the future that is ahead of us.  it's so wonderful to know that our lives are not bound by the requirements of getting up at a certain time to do the work that someone else has decided that we must do.  instead, we go when and where we want to go.

may each of us look forward to a life filled with expectations of good things to come, and may we have memories of happy times past.  may we appreciate each season of the year and of our lives.  may we celebrate the changes that life brings.  may we relish the living of every moment.  shalom.

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