Lord, it is harvest time.
The ripe fields are being cut,
their full grains carried by conveyors
into waiting trucks,
then driven off to storage bins.
Huge wagons loaded with baled grasses
move like awkward prehistoric animals
through the country roads, groaning
with the weight of their burden.
Apples and pears,
sweet and full,
are sorted into wooden crates
to be the central joy of craft festivals.
Root vegetables are being dug
and hidden in dark cellars
against the threat of winter.
Everywhere the reaping of fruit
and grains
and grasses
celebrate the faithful work of spring planting
and hot summer cultivation.
This, Lord, is the season to rejoice,
the season to enjoy,
the season to rest from labor
and to dance in streets and country roads-
around warm bonfires.
I feel it in my bones, Lord.
I, too, am entering the season of harvest.
For so long I have wondered what I would be when I grew up.
For so long I have done, as faithfully as I knew,
just what the day demanded of me:
daily tasks, tending children, meeting deadlines,
passing out love, finishing routines.
All the while I felt as if one day I would "turn out"--
do something special,
be something when I grew up.
Now, half a century of my days have passed
doing "regular" things the best I knew.
I smell the smoke of autumn fires,
and feel the days shortening.
I hear the rustle of "gathering in”.
I can see now, that the daily being
was what I was to do.
Even now, my days are so "regular,"
my chores so unspectacular.
Yet, I feel a festival in the air.
My grandchildren dance in the leaves on the hillside.
My husband hurries home to be warmed
by hot soup and a fire in the kitchen hearth
and by our well-tested love.
My work has, on wings of its own,
found its way into places I will never go,
but joy has returned on the wind
to sing at the festival.
Yes, this is harvest time.
The fruit is ripe and sweet.
Help me. Lord. to see the life You’ve given me
in a new and joyful perspective.
Help me to embrace the process of seasons.
May the harvest bonfires
be a sweet incense to Your nostrils, too.
