A Season To Be Present

(October 1, 2010 reflection on seasonal changes & spiritual opportunity as we enter September & October)

As I write this we are several days into a new season. Autumn began officially on September 23rd this year. Vacations have been taken and we are beyond the “lazy days of Summer.” You can sense the change happening all around us as school gets into full swing, the nights dip into the 50s and 40s, the trees along Main Street begin to show us their brilliant red and gold hues, and we find ourselves thinking about wearing long sleeves or a jacket.



To me, when September and October arrive, with them come the sense that it’s “time to get back to work.” I think part of that comes from being a student for so much of my life. I’ve grown accustomed to the change in rhythm that comes with a new Fall Semester. I think part of it is also related to the rhythm of parish life and the Church Calendar. Things that were put on hold during the summer start up again as people return from their travels, and at the same time we find ourselves thinking about Diocesan Convention & stewardship, and nearing the end of our longest Church season and needing to plan for Advent.

At this time of year we may find our secular and spiritual lives converging in a way filled with to-do lists or a feeling of busyness. Yes, we all have various responsibilities and activities, and yes we also need to be doing some looking ahead or planning… but I think particularly in this season and as we make our way toward the “pre-Christmas rush”, it’s a good time to consider if we are off-balance and we’ve tipped over into too busy & too future-oriented. One example of this: we are barely into Autumn, have 4 weeks til Halloween, 2 months til Thanksgiving and a friend saw Christmas Trees in a K-mart in New York this week. My gut response was, “Nooooooooo! Too early.”

I have a book called “Too Busy Not To Pray,” the premise being it’s when we are most busy we are most in need of prayer… of intentionally making time for God in our lives. Since Fall may be over quicker than we like, it may be a good time to ponder if we are too busy to appreciate it’s beauty and the One who created it. Are we too busy and too focused ahead to listen to God, appreciate creation, spend quality time with loved ones, to pray?

Reflecting on Autumn Thomas Nelson notes, “Our senses do not function in the past nor the future. We cannot see, smell, taste, hear, or feel something that has happened before or that will happen in the future… Therefore, we are not intended to spend most of our waking hours focusing on a time when we cannot use these senses. Enjoying the sights, sounds, smells, feelings, and tastes of Fall is one of the best ways we can be truly in the present and enjoy the riches of the moment” (Soul Searching, p 351).

I know it can be easier said than done, but let’s consider taking time in the midst of a new, perhaps busy season when stores and media keep pointing us to the future and various holidays on the horizon, to be present in the moment, to be present with our senses. Rather than looking ahead, looking behind, being on the go and rushing to and fro, let’s take a moment to try to be fully present and look for God, listen for God in the moment and in the day that has passed.

I ran across a quote in Monk Habits for Everyday People by Dennis Okholm. A Monk named Father Guy states, “Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant is listening”; we more often say, “Listen, Lord, for thy servant is speaking.” And in Listening to Your Life Frederick Buechner notes when God speaks it’s into our personal lives, and that Jesus is most likely to show up in the midst of our lives… walking down the road or during supper. So while we need to make time to prayerfully talk to God, so too we need to make time to prayerfully listen for what God might be saying to us, and to reflect on where God has been present to us, and how God may be moving in our lives. The spiritual discipline of practicing the presence of God means recognizing that God is here, now, moving through our everyday activities even if they may seem trivial or insignificant to us. If we take the time to pause, look, listen, reflect we may notice – even in the average or trivial – a pattern, a pattern than reveals to us God’s presence in our lives.

May we each find time this Fall to be present to loved ones, to life, and to God’s patterns & presence.

Fall Blessings.