May Your Seasons Be Bright
John Bonney of Springfield, OR, USA
And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth. -Mosiah 11:207
There is something truly inspiring about this season of the year. It is a time when most calendars of the world reach the concluding month. Part of the mystique is that all cultures and societies through all of time have recognized this point in the year as a season of turning. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3). People all over the world note that the earth makes a major shift at this time. This is especially noticeable in the temperate and arctic climes. But even people of the tropics are aware.
When the earth shifts and begins to change the number of daylight hours, when a new season is in the offing, and then a newer season, and then a newer season yet, it is a time for rejoicing. It is a time for celebration, as well as solemn ritual observances. We are turning the corner. In the northern hemisphere we will begin to see the ending of the cold and the dark, and a trend toward light and warmth. We will move again through another series of four seasons with two equinoxes and two solstices. We will and we have watched the landscape change in accompaniment to the changing times. For persons of a certain age, after accumulating all of the seasons of the year for a period of decades, one sees the repeating transition, the recycling of days taking place once again. We age, but those seasonal changes seem ageless.
Let us, then, enjoy our own observances, but also give a nod of acceptance and appreciation for diversity, for the variety of ways and manners with which peoples of this earth observe such transition. Let us remember the days and years past with fondness for that which deserves fondness, and with sadness for that which does not. Let us remember good friends and loved ones. Some have left this life during the past year, and twelve months from now, more will also be gone. And then one day, others will rejoice in the season and remember, and in their remembrances will be the mental image of each of us.
May your seasons be bright-bright with love, bright with times of happiness, bright with the coming of light out of a moment that is dark. May you find light in the sense of accomplishment, and light in the sense of peace. If it is your way, remember the Prince of Peace and the example of that life lived well and given lovingly. The touch of the divine presence be in your head. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”
Prayer Phrase
God with us.
Spiritual Practice
Take time each day in this season to notice what feels most alive in you. Spend some time holding the feeling, and ask what it may be trying to tell you about the Spirit at work in your life. Notice what it may be forming in you. Pay attention to where it may lead. How can what is most life-giving reveal the presence and invitation of God in and around us.
Today’s Prayer for Peace
Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.
