As Labor Day rapidly approaches and Summer rains turn to Autumn leaves; the days grow shorter while the nights grow longer. The hot summer air turns cool as the kids return to school to discover another rule to which they will measure themselves. It’s a transition that brings tears to the eyes of some and smiles to the trials of others caught in the Autumn rush of something old and new. The rumor is that humor will once again fill the holes left by the roles of former seasons and birth a cool new rule in this pool.

As I reflect on the transition from the season of Summer to Autumn, there are a host of memories that flood my mind, some of which I am pleased to find while others are lost  or choose to decline. I remember this last week-end of summer as a time when the family gathered at the lake cottage one more time to do what we’d done every summer Sunday. The add on was taking out the docks, bringing in the boats, closing the cottage and saying good-bye to this special space making way for another season of grace.

Today is different. Most all the people I grew up with are scattered to the wind in form and spirit which means the generations have continued to move on in time and space. The cottage was sold, the matriarchs and patriarchs died, the children became parents/grandparents and the mobility of our ever changing landscape put people in different places and spaces. It’s now another season and yet the joy and laughter, the humor and humus of newness continues wherever we choose to bring abundant life to life.

The magic of childhood is now captured in the freshness of another season, another opportunity to experience a new way of being and becoming something that begins with another ending. There’s a new beauty, a new mood in each season. There’s a sense of humor that embraces the changes we go through with each seasonal change within ourselves, our environment and those around us. Summer gives us permission to play and  relax while Autumn asks us to ponder the changes that inevitably will strip us bare.

Ripeness is beginning to fill the air once again as we look across the threshold of the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. When August turns to September there’s a shift in consciousness, a bidding farewell to that which has been and a greeting to that which can be. It’s another rite of passage we count as both loss and gain, gratitude and liberation. Rustling in the cool morning breeze, the leaves speak of fertility and bliss to me; of transforming apples to cider and trees into gold, red and orange scenes.

The soul of the seasons speaks to the innermost places of our Being. Listening deeply to the crickets in the fields, to the leaves fluttering on the trees, to the geese flying free, we once again discover the interconnectivity. We move with the rhythms of the tides, of the changes and rearranges that come with each new season of our lives. Our children leave for school and eventually follow the rule of leaving home to build their own: and with age, sometimes comes a sagely wisdom that honors the roads of transition.

Boldly we walk alone together into the sunset our lives, into the mystery of our lows and highs. We stand together as the leaves again drop from the trees to become a bed for those who will lie sleeping underneath the blanket of winter’s ease. “Taste and see,” she says to me, Mother Nature seeing my bended knee. “Abundant life is yours with every season, see?” I stand in awe knowing the eventual fall into her bosom who so lovingly holds it all. The divine light of summer gives way to autumn’s fall. A gift, for all.

Let us say farewell to this soulful season of summer as it lingers on in the heat of the days to make way for the autumn season that cools the nights and opens newly colored ways. Blessings abound as we let go what has been to let come what will be, as we all together sing our songs for another living reality. Come what may, we smile today as leaves transform and new life is born in the migration of time. The humorous rule that fires the fool to see everything as play is here laughing today. What do you say? ? ?

• As we bid farewell to summer and give greetings to autumn, make some space every day to embrace the grace of each season. Reflect on this past summer and what it has opened for you and in this new season of autumn, what you’d like to bring it to. Give attention to your intentions and live into them daily. . . .
• As you make this transition, reclaim your sense of humor. Open yourself to the wonder of all the wonder that’s here in this life. Feel the coolness of the evening with a smile, the warmth of the days with laughter, the gentleness of the morning with a soulful grin that lets you begin the new day again and again and again. . . .
• Finally, recognize the soulful season of life you’re in and take whatever sad song you’re singing and make it better, better, better. . . Ahh yes, it’s a brand new day! ! ! !