“O sacred season of autumn, be my teacher for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment. As I gaze upon your full-colored beauty, I sense about you an at-home-ness with your amber riches. You are season of retirement, of full barns and harvested fields. The cycle of growth has ceased; the busy work of giving life is now completed. I sense in you no regrets; you’ve lived a full life.
“I live in a society ever restless, always eager for more mountains to climb, seeking happiness through more and more possessions. As a child of my culture, I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.
“Teach me to take stock of what I’ve been given and received; may I know that is enough, that my striving can cease in the abundance of God’s grace. I know the contentment that allows the totality of my energies to come to full flower, May I know that like you, I am rich beyond measure. As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in great bounty, let me also take delight in the abundance of simple things in life that are the true source of joy. With the golden glow of peaceful contentment, may I truly appreciate his autumn day.”
“Teach me to take stock in what I’ve been given and received,” is so worth remembering. Beautiful quote.