Seeds in Fall

"But as I explore autumn's paradox of dying and seeding, I feel the power of metaphor. In the autumnal events of my own experience, I am easily fixated on surface appearances - on the decline of meaning, the decay of relationships, the death of a work. And yet if I look more deeply, I may see the myriad possibilities being planted to bear fruit in some season yet to come…. This hopeful notion that living is hidden within dying is surely enhanced by the visual glories of autumn."

:: Parker Palmer

:: Let Your Life Speak

{ Waupaca, WI : 2013 }

While I often view autumn as the time in which life is put to death, I am reminded that in the prospect of death there is the hope of new life. It is in this season that I reflect on the possibilities turned down, the doors closed, and the relationships lost that opened up space for another plan to be brought forth. I discern now what I could not see at the time - that there was meaning in my ideas not working and how it made space for other experiences to surface. Daily dying to this truth is the precursor to new life. In autumn, seeds are sown even when giving the appearance of death.

"But when I yield to the endless interplay of living and dying, dying and living, the life I am given will be real and colorful, fruitful and whole."

:: Palmer