Monday Morning Offering: 9/16

Morning Coffee by George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

 

Seems that in my part of the world, Lord, 

    you’re easing us into autumn 

with warm, sunny days wrapped 

    between cool mornings and brisk evenings... 

 

The balance, just now, is near perfect 

but soon enough the chill will spill

    into afternoon hours

and slowly pick the leaves from trees 

    until they’re bared of beauty:

        summer’s glory fading fast...

 

Something in me longs to stall the seasons changing:

    to stay the summer, holding back the dying 

    bound to come around this time each year

    when the sunlight plays its game of hide and seek...

 

This is fall's time, Lord:

    when a nip in the air quickens my step and pace;

    when barren branches scratch their prayers 

        across a harvest moon;

    when autumn's rare, spare beauty      

        whispers psalms of praise within my heart...

 

Inside and out, Lord,

my soul and body stand between the seasons:

    no change in nature’s phases fails 

    to change in turn the seasons of my heart… 

 

The rhythms of creation, 

    of suns and planets, moons and tides 

all echo in my heart and my soul knows 

    how all that lives will die,

    how all that dies will rise again 

        when comes the spring that has no end…

 

Without losing an hour's sunlight

    or the joy of a warm day's kiss,

while holding close the memories

    of mountain roads and valleys,

walk me into fall, Lord,

    with autumn's leafy glory dropping down

to lay a russet carpet, earthen grace, a path

    for me to walk from season into season...

Help me let go, Lord, what I hold too tightly,
    what cannot last the whole year through
and let my empty arms embrace and trust
    that even in the falling, in the dying,
        you are with me, 

    present and abiding in the seasons 

        all the season of my life...

 

Be my bridge, Lord, 

    from summertime to fall
and ready me for all that lies ahead:
    the winter and the cold, 

    the springtime and its promise
    and then summer once again...

 

Receive my prayer today, Lord,   

    my offering of the seasons

        that turn and change and age me;

these seasons of your glory,

    these seasons of your grace

these seasons marking all the years

    I live and grow in you...

   
Amen.

Tweet   

SUBSCRIBE HERE!