"Within the circles of our lives we dance the circles of the years, the circles of the seasons within the circles of the moon within the circles of the seasons, the circles of our reasons within the circles of the moon. Again, again we come and go changed, changing. Hands join, unjoin in love and fear, grief and joy. The circles turn, each giving into each, into all"  Wendell Berry.

Things are changing…can you sense it? If you are awake early, and walk outside, there is the faintest scent of autumn, that crisp air tinged with moisture that signals the change of August heat into the coolness of September days. Walking in the evenings there is the sound of crickets creating a hum in the background that provides a musical score for the setting of the Sun, the changing of the season. Different bird songs are heard…there seems to be an urgency to their sound. Our pansies have finally faded, holding on longer than so many annuals to their sweet colors. Over the weekend I removed them from planters, replacing them with baby mums……the flower of fall. The squirrels in our yard are also busier than usual, running wildly, chasing one another, chewing noisily on the black walnuts they have knocked prematurely from our trees. They sense the change and are preparing. Each day is shorter than the one before, night falling while the air is still heavy with warmth.

The children, too, play more frenetically, riding bikes with abandon down the middle of the street. They know their freedom is coming to an end. A kindergartner across the street marched up and down the sidewalk last week wearing his new backpack, proud and excited with the change about to happen in his life. The backpack which dwarfed him now will give way in not so many years to larger containers that carry his belongings. This was confirmed by the truck next door packed with boxes, books, equipment….. and dreams of the young woman headed back to college.Soon we will load our own car with our son’s belongings as he heads to his second year away from home. Where did the summer go?

Change. We crave it. We long for it. We dream of it. We work diligently for it. It is woven into the very fiber of Creation. And now we have the privilege of being present to its arrival. It carries both hope and a bittersweetness. What has been will not be again…….what is to be is yet unknown.

May we be granted the eyes to see the beauty of it all and a heart to hold the gift of change, of changing.