Autumn Air Does a Heart Dance

THE ACHE OF AUTUMN IN US                        (Joyce Rupp, Praying Our Goodbyes p. 21-22)

There is a season for everything,

A time for giving birth,

A time for dying;

A time for tears,

A time for laughter;

A time for mourning,

A time for dancing….

                        Ecclesiastes 3:1,2,4

The trees grow more restless;

October wind weaves through them;

they shake their arms in dismay

as if to fight the coming cold

and the grief of leaves going.

Autumn air does a heart-dance

on branches already gone barren;

the misty air clings to golden leaves,

making the trees bend even lower.

It is a season to hold the trees close,

to stand with them in their grieving.

It is time to open my inner being

to the misty truths of my own goodbyes.

Autumn comes.  It always does.

Goodbye comes.  It always does.

The trees struggle with this truth today

and in my deepest being, so do I.

Every autumn, nostalgia fills me;

every autumn, yearning holds me.

I cling to the ripeness of summer,

knowing it will be many long months

before I can catch a breath of lilac,

or the green of freshly mown grass.

And so I begin my fallow vigil,

remembering the truth of the ages:

Unless the wheat seed dies

it cannot sing a new birth.

Unless summer gives in to autumn

springtime will never embrace me.

This poem by Joyce Rupp expresses my sense of loss and grief and yet, in it I also find hope.  Today is the 31st anniversary of my husband, Phil’s, death.  For others it is 6 months or 3 years or a decade that has passed since you said goodbye to the one who touched your life in such a meaningful way.

 For the mother who has lost her son; for the girl who has lost her sister; for the man whose co-worker died unexpectedly; for the young man who lost his friend to suicide; for the woman who lost a friend of a lifetime; for the wife who loses her husband; for the son who lost his father; for the devoted granddaughter who loses her Grandmother to cancer; for the husband who loses his wife; for the niece who loses her favorite aunt; and for the many families who have lost loved ones to Covid 19 during this pandemic, we offer our love, our prayers and our listening hearts. 

 We also “remember” with those who have lost dear ones.  A card or a call means so very much in our healing.  It’s not as though we don’t remember the events that broke our hearts wide open, so a gift we can give to each other is to “remember with” the one who grieves.

 The Covid-19 Pandemic has added an additional layer of burden on the grieving ones in ways that break all our hearts.  Final farewells and celebrations of life have been put on an indefinite hold and honoring the loved ones we have lost is not possible in ways familiar to us.  And it is hard!  It’s hard to be human.  We make it through only by the grace of God and the love of friends and family and ones we may not even know that well.  A heartfelt word of warmth can make all the difference in a day of sorrow.  Please hear these words from the prophet Isaiah:

Chapter 43: verses 2-3.

I

            When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

            and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

            when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

            and the flame will not consume you.

            For I am the Lord your God,

            The Holy One of Israel, your Savior

May the Peace of Christ that passes all understanding dwell in your hearts this day and forevermore.

This meditation was written by Rev. Sherry Ward and offered Monday, September 20th as part of our prayer vigil with Faith and Grief Ministries as we prepared for North Texas Giving Day. You can watch the meditation here.