Friday, October 30, 2009

Season of Bounty

My hiatus is over. My much needed respite has come to an end. For now. As we wend our way into Fall, thoughts turn toward nestling in, mulling over all the experiences from past months. For the purposes of this blog, it might have been nice to have been writing about them as they occurred. But like the seasons, there is a time to reap and a time to sow. Turn, turn, turn...

Fall is about celebrating the bounty of the harvest. And what bounty we have this season! As I write, I'm looking out from my new library at the myriad trees that make up our new backyard -- maples and aspen in transition from green to gold -- giving thanks for new space that we're fortunate enough to call our home. There are birdfeeders to fill, gardens to dig in, leaves to rake, a lawn to mow and I find myself overflowing with gratitude at the simplicity of domestic chores to occupy my hands while my mind gets to flit from thought to thought as the birds from branch to branch.

Soon, these chores move indoors for the winter. But until then, I will spend every possible moment communing with what is now "our" land, which is less about ownership as it is partnership -- this land is simply ours to steward as best we can for as long as we're able with open and loving hearts. This is our gift -- to give and to receive, to welcome and be welcomed, to love and be loved. What I've learned is this is not just about partnership with our land, but with the whole of our lives.

It is in this new space that I invite the changes that the natural cycles of life and death and rebirth bring when we're willing to pay attention to their wisdom. Who will I become with the room to spread my wings? With space to open to the full range of possibility? Earlier this year, I dared ask the question: what is available to me here, right now, in this moment? The answer was simply to open to my part in the great dance of this life and to embrace that my part is ever-growing, ever-changing as we all are. I couldn't have been more amazed at what new adventures showed up when I did...

So I ask, what question will you dare to ask of your life?//