It’s Alban Elfed, the autumn equinox, that great time of balance; the time of equal day lengths and night. Balance is a great word, but how do we apply it to our daily lives? Here’s a thought.

I know some men and women of action, but with little prayer life  and ritual. They achieve good things and I greatly admire them.They are always busy, but in some way they seem ‘disconnected’ from the Source, exhausted, ‘drained’, ‘energyless’.

I know some other men and women, who are great people of prayer and ritual and I greatly admire them, too. But, little action. To them, the goal of action may seem too remote, or maybe they have assumed it’s the ‘calling’ of others ‘do’, and not theirs. They seem ‘disconnected’ from interaction with the local and wider community, almost recluse.

I am only speaking in generalisations, and it’s not for me to judge them. I only write the abovementioned because, at different times and in different ways, I resemble both these groups.

Do you?

At times I seem so busy, that prayer and ritual are put on the backburner. I race around, but deep inside all is not well with my soul. At other times, I’ve spent so much time in prayer and ritual, secluded, I know the good that could have been done, physically, relationally, interactively with others, hasn’t happened, and I’m the poorer for it.

There are many ways to celebrate the autumn equinox, and several days ago I highlighted some practical suggestions: here.

However, there is another way to celebrate the autumn equinox: incarnationally!

This autumn equinox, this time of balance, I’m going to think deeply, reflectively, objectively about ‘balance’ in my life, tonight. What am I doing? And, why? Is there an imbalance in my work-rest-play life? Am I too ‘reclusive’ or to ‘outward’, do I think too much of others to the detriment of myself, or is it the other way round? What do I need to add to obtain ‘balance’, and what do I need to change or subtract. And, what about you, and your life?

Alban Elfed, the autumn equinox is not only the time of this season, though it is and that’s important, not just as an academic observation, but it can also be an aim, that is as something  definite to achieve within my life: work, rest, play balance. The Autumn equinox can be incarnated, born in the flesh and ‘out-worked’, through you and me in our daily life. Just a thought.

What do you think?

[Meanwhile, wishing those whom you love a great Alban Elfed]