Transience

This time of year always reminds me of the

Transience

of life.

I always feel a little sad when fall approaches. Though I love it’s colors and crisp cool mornings, it is also a harbinger telling me that winter will soon be here.

But today I am enjoying the beauty of this day despite the coolness. During my morning walk today the air felt brisk and I wore a fleece jacket for the first time since spring. Despite the coolness and cloudy skies above, the beauty of the parks and trails that criss-cross through our neighborhood continues to astonish me. Sometimes I simply pause and look around soaking it all in.

In our backyard there are so many pine cones in the top branches on the evergreen tree that the branches look brown from a distance. I’ve never before seen so many cones on that tree. The goldfinches love them and flit from cone to cone extracting seeds. Sometimes they have a little territorial tiff and chase one another away. Though, from my point of view there are so many cones that it’s difficult to imagine them running out of seeds anytime soon.

Speaking of goldfinches, I love this poem about them by Mary Oliver.

 

Invitation

 

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

 

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

 

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

 

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

 

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

 

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

 

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

 

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

 

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

 

Mary Oliver, “Invitation,” A Thousand Mornings (New York: Penguin Books, 2013).

I hope that you enjoy this day and take some time to see beauty and feel wonder today in this broken world. No matter what else is happening, there is still beauty.

May you walk in beauty.

Transience

Abundance

You can see the top of the evergreen tree on the left and even see how brown the upper branches look — they are covered with pinecones!