Fall Prose and Musings

As summer comes to a close with its last roses and slight warm gentle breezes, a subtle transition occurs. We evolve from summer’s predictability to the uncertainty of fall- maturation. This is a time of reflection where we integrate the memories and experiences of summer with the intense colors and changes of the fall- knowing all is well. This is a time for gathering and a time to let go. A time mixed with tension, sadness, excitement, harvest and contentedness. Now is a time of new beginnings, new understandings and a surrender of the past. A time to ponder and muse of what is and what is about to come. All is well…

Peace… Light… Love…

KG

Of all the seasons, fall carries with it the greatest sense of melancholy, a longing for what has been and a reluctance to enter into that which is ahead. The transition from summer to fall begins in a nearly imperceptible way, passes into the time of glorious color and then fades into darker hues. It is a season that takes us from the warm dependability of summer to the unpredictability of fall temperatures. It is the season of the year when life is preparing for the dying time that we are reminded of the necessity of letting go of some life that we have known in order to discover life that is not yet ours.

When the leaves are gone we can see more of the blue. There are always compensations.

Peace…Light… Love

KG

In the Silence I am the Freedom of the Autumn Leaves

So I come to the quiet in the morning for many reasons. One of the most critical is to meet with silence. Silence is more than mere lack of words. It for me is most often something positive. In fact it appears an interior fullness, for God is then speaking to me in the best of all languages: the language of love. It is in that language and space where I find my greatest strength even when called to be a warrior.

From the first Psalm …’Like a tree planted near running water that yields its fruits in due season and whose leaves never fail’…. This is the fullness this quiet time brings. To start off a day, let alone my week without mediation, seemingly my noblest faculty- my intellect, is then reduced and or eliminated from my prayer life. The secret of my contentedness or any semblance of happiness I may exhibit is in God’s words to me acted on which are always true, but I do not always see the hidden clause upon which their fulfillment depends…So I go deep into the quiet…On the trails, in the woods, at the Hospice or the breadline, on or in the lake or river, in the valley, the yoga studio or ashram, temple or church or alone burning incense and candles in sacred space…

It is in the silence where I hear the direction and am given the strength… It is here I once again am reminded in a deeper way – -God will not force — God only incites us and stimulates us, but never forces us… I insist on being ready to be called to new tasks and to explore new horizons. The truth may still become more evident to me in ways I do not now suspect, and I can only hope to perceive that truth if I maintain a listening and learning attitude…

Like Jonah when in the whales belly he may have learned that he was only really free when he lived in dependence on and abandonment to the one who gave him his liberty… So today, this morning at the beginning of a new week in a new and final quarter of this calendar year, I come to the quiet and am faced with the frightening responsibility of remaining open to Gods call and of living with the same freedom of the autumn leaves, ready to be blown in whatever direction the Spirit may indicate and with no foreknowledge of just what awaits…

Old Man’s Cave – Hocking Hills, Ohio

It is said to have taken 300 million years in making of this unique creation by artistic patient fingers of nature. I stand at its base and think about land as it is the foundation of life- offering shelter, nurturing and beauty. Change is seldom drastic in geological time.

The earth “Speaks”- you can “Listen” to the many constant seasonal changes. Fall with its brief display of dizzy color before it ends with no more to be expected; yet we know this is not so. Believe in Spring- Hope- and a new day…See it die this death as a prelude to new breath, a new day, new life, hope.

Transformation of the Fall breath of pessimism to the breath of hope…

Peace…Light…Love…

KG

All photos, prose and musings by Kevin J Goodman. Kevin is the managing director, partner with BlueBridge Networks, a downtown Cleveland-based data-center business. Goodman regularly practices meditation and enrichment with runs in the woods and quiet time in Yoga at Bikram Cleveland and counts The Bikram Studios in Columbus, Ohio, and Boston as “home away from home” favorite studios when traveling for work. BlueBridge Networks delivers best-in-class datacenter services, including virtualization, cloud computing, disaster recovery, and managed storage and security. In the past 12 months, BlueBridge and Goodman have earned “Smart Business” magazine’s Smart 50 award, “Inside Business” magazine’s Cool Tech award, Medical Mutual’s Kent Clapp CEO Leadership award, and a NEOSA Best of Tech finalist award. Goodman can be reached at (216) 367-7580, [email protected] or www.bluebridgenetworks.com