When I’d step out the door sometimes I’d catch the whiff of roses. The old manor house where Contemplative Fire hosted their annual retreat this year was Parcevall Hall in Yorkshire. There was a beautiful rose vine that grew beside the doorway and over our bedroom windows. It became a friend during the week I stayed there.
The devotional focus for the week was seasonal changes. We walked through the letting go of autumn, the dormancy of winter, the mess and buds of spring and the abundance of summer, only of course to begin again with letting go as summer’s abundance fades and frozen time of winter approaches. The relentlessness of seasons.
The rose vine was a picture of all the seasons for me and the whole picture was beautiful. There are beautiful roses in bloom, and small buds emerging too, but there is also a scattering of rose petals on the ground as a blooms finish and of course dead heads that have yet to be cleared away – buds, blossoms, fallen petals and deadheads, spring, summer, fall and winter, an ongoing cycle in front of me, relentless and all beautiful. In it’s completeness it is beautiful. Yes, there is a part of me that only wants full blooms…. But truly the whole vine is beautiful.
The whiff of the rose vine – may I embrace all the seasons of my life. Am I resisting one of them? Don’t want to experience the autumn of letting go of something? Fearful of buds – what will they look like? How messy will it be? Uncertain, tentative to bask in the beauty of abundance? What sustains me in the times of deadheads, times of deep waiting? The relentless turn of seasons. Winter won’t last forever, spring will come, but also summer won’t last forever either, autumn will come as well. What do I need to be content with the seasonal cycles? Another twist to being a Mystic in Motion.
Love and prayers on our journey
Anne
Community Leader Contemplative Fire Canada
Mystic in Motion 
Another twist in being a mystic in motion in regards seasonal changes is climate change. No need to go into detail about what we already are well aware of: seasonal eruptions causing planetary devastation. If we don’t do something now, seasons will be so different that we won’t have seasons to mirror our spirituality.
In spite of our human failures, I believe that we can do it – we can be stewards of God’s Creation in a way that we have never before.
Just another little twist causing an big change in our relationship to God, others and our environment . There is hope.
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thanks for lifting my seasonal reflections into a much bigger world Jan. and yes, with you i carry hope. we can each make a difference in how we care for creation around us. and i admit my weakness and struggles – will i still visit my family that live long distances, even though i now air travel isn’t good for our air?
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