The weather has turned and the cool wind bites at my skin as if to prepare my resistant heart for the cold rain. Winter... time to go within, to release the beauty of the outer and watch it's seductive sway fade into another sunless season. Fall is my sad reminder that Winter approaches. As the sun yields its warm brilliance to the rains, I watch as the earth responds, flowers fade, color quiets, and although I cannot see, I know that the forest sinks deeper into the soil, strengthening, nourishing from within.
I, too, will sink into the soil of my being as I turn to inner contemplation, a time of reflection. It is the season for deepening of the roots of my soul. I can feel its approach, the long season ahead, and this year, I am awake to receive its call.
Renee Randol lives in the Pacific Northwest.
