Nature's Grace Period

On a walk this morning I picked up a fallen leaf. Neatly eaten out of the leaf was a hole, the chomp marks of an insect or caterpillar clearly visible. That chomped-on leaf reminded me that sometimes juggling work and family can make us feel we're being "eaten up."

Fortunately, we have Autumn, that flamboyant death scene of summer, when nature gives us grace time, a chance to put one's life back in order.

In autumn we speak of leaves changing colors. In reality, the leaves don't change. Those colors are always there. They are simply covered by the green color produced by sun and chlorophyll. Shorter days and less sun cause their true colors to show through. Autumn is a great time to reassess our true colors.

Autumn is also a time to celebrate our ability to grow and change. Every leaf that falls from the trees is actually pushed off by the budding new growth of next spring's leaf. But have you ever noticed that there is a particular type of oak tree that hangs on to its leaves all through winter? That tree always strikes me as being non-vulnerable, for to celebrate autumn is to celebrate our vulnerability, our ability to "let go" of that which hinders us from growing and changing.

And Autumn is a time to celebrate who we are. On November 1, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast of All Saints. While we usually think of this feast as a remembrance of extraordinary dead people, it is also our day. A day to celebrate us -- the household called church. It's a great day for a staff, block, or neighborhood potluck, celebrating ourselves, our true colors, our ability to grow and change. This year on All Saints Day let's celebrate the saints among us -- the church we are to each other.