A Time to Thrive

The days are getting shorter by the minute.

From September 21 until the winter solstice, the days get shorter. Depending on a location’s latitude (how far north of the equator), daylight slips away at the rate of 3 minutes a day.

Days seem to go faster, don’t they?

Turning the calendar page in October brings both a sigh and a lament.

Slant light in the northern hemisphere brings longer shadows, changing colors and colder temperatures.

Without holidays to look forward to––especially Thanksgiving and Christmas––I might pull the covers over my head and take a Rip Van Winkle nap.

Wake me up when it’s warm.

No longer can I tell if I’m waking up in the middle of the night or if the alarm didn’t go off? Is it morning?

Wake me when sunset occurs later than 4:00 pm. When I was in Germany, it was dark by 4:30 pm each day.

Oh, how I dread fewer hours of daylight. As if I have been cheated out of what I need to survive.

Daylight Saving Time or not, the hours of sunlight per day shrinks.

We live by the clock, not a sundial.

Shorter days, longer nights and the sense that time itself tucks itself in earlier each day must mean something. Seasons change for a reason.

Autumn leaves must fall.

Slow down to thrive.

Yet each season has unique beauty. And purpose.

A time for every season and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Once school starts, pedal to the floorboard acceleration.

Activities crowd schedules and the demands on time and energy queue up, waiting a turn for focused attention. Right?

It’s like we’re stuck in second gear.

Fall gently eases people into cruise control. No shifting gears for a while. Enjoy the scenery.

Give a thought to this wonderful world we call home and the people who inhabit this world.

Sit around a table with people you love. Listen to everyone’s conversation. Look people in the eye when they speak. Each person has something to contribute.

“People would rather you hear their story than have a wish granted.” Author Marion Roach made that statement in a memoir class I took two weeks ago.

I think she’s on to something.

As the days get shorter, time to be with people, listening to their stories, I think, will nourish the roots of relationships.

Fall can be a time to thrive.

 

Want to read more about length of days?

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