The Anxieties of Autumn
Last week, I read an article suggesting that we begin calling August “Pre-September” because of all the active planning that happens while summer is still wrapping up. We look forward to what is ahead, almost compulsively, refusing to live in the present moment. There is an anxiety to the coming season that virtually all of us feel. The low bar of summer is passing away and the expectations of the new school year, increased intensity at work or the mania of our current politics all threaten whatever peace we have achieved over the summer.
These are the anxieties of autumn.
Instead of giving in to the fears, could we do something different? Could we “continue steadfastly in prayer*?” Not necessarily a prayer of supplication but a prayer that feeds on the life of God Himself. A prayer that forms a cocoon around us, sheltering us from the anxieties of autumn. Could we “be watchful in (our prayers) with thanksgiving*?” Instead of making every man around us our judge and jury, feel the forgiveness that our repentance brings from God Himself, seeing His fingerprints in the changing autumn all around us, loving us every step of the way? Could we let this changing (and often dying) world go on stressing itself to death while we choose life and the presence of a God who is Love?
I feel it. You may feel it too. Autumn can begin an era of anxiety in our lives. I believe Our God wants to deliver us from this. I believe He is inviting to live a life of freedom with Him.
Reach out to The Lord this fall and you will not be disappointed.
*Colossians 4:2
Fr. Gavin Pate
Photo by Erik Witsoe on Unsplash