Saturday, October 23, 2010

Seasons and Time

Well, it's been a couple of months since I last posted here.  The seasons have changed, if not the temperatures.  It's 75 and sunny right now, and though it's nearly November, we still haven't had any frost or freezing weather.  My flowers are still blooming and enjoying this last bit of sunshine, being completely prolific and without thought for tomorrow.  I can sit on the deck and watch the vibrant scarlet and yellow sugar maple dance in the wind, gloriously, outrageously beautiful... I can sit and watch it for hours.  It reminds me that changing seasons are not what they seem, and that all this beauty is a celebration of the eternal nature of life.

I have a couple of new residents here at the Sanctuary.  Lucky Duck and Miss, a couple of ancient beagles whose owner died and who no one wants.  The seasons of their lives have definitely seemed to change... but here they are, enjoying the autumn sunlight with great joy and pleasure, reminding me again that changing circumstances are not what they seem, that life in all its disguises is infinite and good.

And so I am grateful for this autumn day, with its warmth and sunshine and outrageous colors and scents.  And I'm grateful for the changes that will come.  Because beneath it all lies an unchanging reality that is comforting and good, and that continues beyond the changing of forms.  That is what The Claire Foundation Animal Sanctuary celebrates.  I care for each of the animals that live and love together here... but I also know that life is infinite, and that as we each have our seasons, life goes on.  We each have our purpose in the changing of seasons and time, this rich palette of experience called life.