Autumn – my favourite season

As a child, it was particularly exciting at Sunday school where they held a harvest festival. Though I lived in a suburb of a big city, in those days it was standard practice for everyone to have a veggie patch and a couple of fruit trees in their gardens. So parishioners would bring samples of their own harvests to the church hall which was specially prepared for the occasion. There was a tiered stand for all us kids to sit on – our singing was the major live entertainment of the day – best was that we got to sing our favourite things and some of us had the excitement of singing solos – a big deal when you’re only 6 – and there are no older brothers allowed to tell you to shut up!!! And the mums had all gathered to make great flower arrangements and beautiful displays of fresh fruit and veggies - it was all quite magical. And afterwards, the bounty went to “those in need”.

The festival was a general celebration of gratitude for the bounty of the earth – and so Autumn has always had this connotation for me – a time to be even more mindfully grateful.

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay