It is now mid-August and I still have a pile of mulch that has stubbornly refused to spread itself out.
Every season has its own madness and for those living in a four-season reality the madness of summer is the delusion that if it is a warm sun-soaked day we simply have to “get something done” or “do something” so as not to waste the glorious weather. It is a strange psychology that we simply have to make use of a nice day, whether for completion of chores or a leisure activity.
There will likely be more such days, quite a few in fact. Besides that, in deep mid-winter when the curtain of gray has been pulled close around us for several months and it is even too cold to ski, having done that thing on that day back in August will not change the current reality one iota.
Sure, there are things that must get done to prepare for winter or to take advantage of access but truly, not that many unless you are a farmer, builder, or in road construction. That azure sky and steel-blue lake will turn soon enough, but we cannot drink enough of their beauty today to staunch the dreariness of March.
Any sense of urgency that creeps into the mind on these ebbing days of summer will only harsh the mellow, as they used to say. Better, I think, to do what we do without any sense of wasting time or sunshine. Better to do what we do, enjoy what we are enjoying, and move along with the weather without the madness whispering in our ear, “Use it or lose it; now or never; don’t miss out.”
Better that we listen to that genius of life who reminded us, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet The Beloved feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life…Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has troubles of its own.”
Happy summer day!
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