Fall’s Journey

As the streams of fall take on a clear, cold, glassine patina,

My mind journeys downstream, floating along a winding path

As a leaf fallen into the cold of a chilling brook

Carried in ripples ever expanding and contracting

My life flows on, sometimes through the deep and often times shallow,

But always in movement contained between the banks of birth and death

I am guided along my way by a force which carries me

Among the rushes, among the fallen branches, under bridges

Where influences cross but do not impede my journey

From moving more slowly as the year progresses,

With the cold fog sometimes obscuring my way,

I float on in the light times and in the night times.

Ever moving toward my ultimate destination,

Merging with all that flows together in life

Occasionally even diverted into a rivulet of passing fancy, my life flows on.

Toward that eventual and inevitable pool of all endings

Where all that is, seems to merge into one body and one purpose

And whether I rise or sink into the murky bottom

Is determined by how I have prepared for this end

For in joining others in harmonic movement

Our mutual benefit provides buoyant support

In that we rise together helping prop up each other

To our reward, gently pulled to shore’s safety,

To winter on dry land to become seed for life once more

Fulfilling His plan

But alone, the others who do not join together in support and structure

Drift aimlessly, eventually lacking surface and substance

In danger of sinking, alone, without hope of life giving support

To the endless dark of perpetual separation from He who provides life

Jesus, Lord of all, help me to float gently and carry me safely

On the currents of your warm and guiding grace

I pray that with Your help no obstacles will impede my movement toward You

And I know that together,

With the help of my brothers and sisters in Your Body

That even at the end of my journey down the oft times cold stream of life

By sharing Your love with others, I will truly live again

In a way more glorious than I can imagine

Rooted on the shores of Heaven

In the glory and warmth of Your countenance

Forever

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