Lord God,

It is difficult to watch the summer fade for the first little bit. The heat is still blazing, and our hearts long for it to end. But as the flames of orange begin to overtake the trees, I realize what this means. In wishing away the seasons, we have wished ourselves into the cold of winter.

Autumn is the transition. How gracious you are to give us a transition. A lesser creator would have simply flipped the seasons on their head, dropped us straight into the ice and cold. But you are greater than that. You have given us an entire season to function as a time of reflection. And it's beautiful. You did not just let the leaves drop in death. Their fall is beautiful, another sign of the endless cycle you have given us.

Teach us to count our days, Lord. Help us not to look at this world as an endless race. My heart so often longs for one season to end, for the next to begin. But you give every season for a purpose. And in wishing away the heat and slowness of summer, I hurl myself into the reality of cold, dark winter. This is why your plans are better than mine. Your plans will always be better than mine. Help me to remember this without getting lost in the future.

Teach us to number our moments. Each leaf that falls from the trees feels like a smaller and smaller sacrifice. Their glory fades. Their color is gone as they crunch below our feet. Like the leaves, we are temporal beings. We also will fade. But you never fade. You never grow weary or old. You are eternal, outside of time, a God as unchanging as we are changing. And yet you do not grow weary with us in our change. 

As the leaves fall from the trees and the temperatures begin to sink, let us be filled with thankfulness, and not with dread. You set this world to spin, and it spins as you created it to do. Your timing is always perfect and this world functions exactly as you command. We think we know all things. We think we know what is best. Help us to see that you and only you can create the patterns of the stars.

We live in between the spinning of planets and under the changing of solar systems. This is infinitely greater than we can understand. These bodies are so much higher and larger than we are. No matter how many zeros we place behind a number, we will never understand how big and far apart and immense the distances and spaces are. But you are greater still, and you do not leave us to the mercy of the planets. No--you set the planets spinning to your will, and used that to make us a home. All praise to you, Lord. 

Teach us to count our days and to number our moments, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Amen.