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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Nadiyka Gerbish, a Ukrainian writer and podcaster

Autumn Colours

Good morning.

When autumn settles in, colouring the leaves, filling the valleys with milky mist in the mornings, infusing the wind with crispness, and making the birds spread their wings heading south, the yearning deep inside becomes more acute. The desire for a home.

In autumn, there are too many things to trigger a random recollection: a familiar smell from the pastry shop on the street corner, a favourite scarf excavated from the pile of warm clothes or a song played on the radio. And all of a sudden, you feel the tingle and want it all to be simple and good. Even though you know it’s never simple and never all good all the time, that longing for home – maybe, even not as a real place but rather a metaphor for belonging and safety – makes you feel nostalgic; makes you remember, remember something you hadn’t even noticed forgetting.

Living in Ukraine, I sometimes hear my friends from overseas almost apologising for keeping on with their lives while the war rages here, senseless and destructive. It saddens me, this comparison. For there is no worry too little, no tear too insignificant, and no life too small. No pain can be statistically calculated. Our lives matter, all of them, everywhere: in those relatively safe places around the world, in Ukraine and the Middle East alike.

Dear Lord, I pray that I always find safety and compassion in You.

Amen.