WHAT DO WE DO WITH INTERIOR-NESS?

Right now the signs are all around us. Little and large, they are speaking with growing autumnal insistence. Deep fall and then winter are closer than we may want to believe. And yet as with all signs, we have the choice either to take them casually or seriously. I choose the latter. When I do, September's and October's annual resplendence of crunch and color seems to bring a far deeper message.

Early falls in our Midwestern cities explode with tartans of tints, orchards of apples, World Series games, and college football weekend; but let us look and listen more intently. Beneath their everyday rhythms, our cities are already starting to turn inward. Bringing us with them into a special time of the year.

It's the approaching interior-ness of deep fall and winter.

Backyard animals are hurrying weather-tight nests, families stacking picnic baskets, children storing swim suits, resorts scheduling their final weekends, and the beckoning holidays will eventually lure us ever more inside and inward.

Life in other cities, cities of perpetual sun and summer, don't speak to their residents in this same way. Possibly that's why it's harder for the folks in Miami, Phoenix and Santa Barbara to be as ready for the shorter days, longer nights, and colder weather that gradually keep us closer to home. Closer to the silence, reflection, and yes appreciation for the gift of life which in the sun and summer we often use up a little too quickly.

Just as many of the world's great religions were born in the silence and reflection of deserts, so have many of the world's great works of art and science in the silence and reflection of deep fall and winter. There's just something about the interior-ness of this time of year. The exterior distractions of our greener world now give way to our own inner voices. From which mighty things can emerge if only we allow and nourish them.

And so it is -- the deep fall and winter will challenge us. Our thinking, praying, and producing!

However, for those who will miss the exterior-ness of their summers, not to worry. There's a ready remedy to your longing. I'm not thinking tanning beds or local spas. I'm thinking local produce markets. Really! You see, while chilling fall mornings and raw winter days may keep you more interior than you'd like to be, consider a trip to your neighborhood supermarket. There summer never really ends. Walk its produce aisles and smell its bins, you're right back in July! at the height of summertime! still in the middle of God's splendid bounty.

So there you have it.....! Another on-coming Midwestern interior-ness in which our Faith and our Muses have an opportunity to thrive at their very best. But at the same time, we never really have to leave the exterior-ness of our summers behind. Sounds like the best of both good worlds.