DIMINISHING: Reflections on a Dying Summer

It’s been a lovely summer. This morning I awoke to the sound of rain falling. I slipped out of bed, pulled on my sweats, made myself a latte and invited Charli the dog and Blizzard the cat to join me on the deck to enjoy the change in weather. It was cool, crisp, and musical. There’s nothing like rain after weeks of sun. Contrasts are good.

But, Summer is dying. It reminds me of one of my favorite poems The Oven Bird by Robert Frost:

There is a singer everyone has heard,  
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,  
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.  
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers  
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.  
He says the early petal-fall is past  
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers  
On sunny days a moment overcast;  
And comes that other fall we name the fall.  
He says the highway dust is over all.  
The bird would cease and be as other birds  
But that he knows in singing not to sing.  
The question that he frames in all but words  
Is what to make of a diminished thing.  

What to make of a diminished thing, indeed. Do you find yourself wrestling with this idea daily? I sure do. It feels like every part of our world is trying to extract more from us and give less in return. Diminishing. Everything is a subscription now. The subscription, turns out, doesn’t get you what you thought. Being told to wait for a table at a restaurant that has multiple open tables. That bag of chips is the same size as it’s always been, but there’s less chips. They’re literally selling us more air. Was there ever a better metaphor for futility? Speaking of air, those mileage plans sure don’t go as far as they used to. We remember past times where things seemingly just worked, where life was challenging but didn’t feel like it was trying to extract every ounce of our attention and money and give us less in return. What to make of a diminished thing? The modern world is screaming at us constantly. BUY NOW! SCROLL. REPLY. PURCHASE. LIKE. REPOST. SHOP THE LOOK! SHARE! The unspoken expectation to post on social media about everything. It’s no wonder our souls are tired.

Meanwhile, summer truly is dying. Sunsets, vivid with smoke while the west burns, glow red like a dying star, arrive sooner each day. Diminishing. There’s nothing to be done about that, but every year we ride the falling leaves into autumn. Then we ride the falling snow into winter. We decorate. We change our meals. In July we put steaks on the grill. In October we make stew. Coffee tastes better in the halflight. Sweaters. Leaves. Crisp mornings. Candles. Pumpkin spice lattes. Haha...just kidding. PSLs come from straight from the 3rd level of hell in Dante’s Inferno where seasonal addiction meets eternal punishment. Isn’t Cerberus just a three-headed barista peddling pumpkin potions? I digress. You get the idea. The summer diminishes and we adjust. We always do.

I guess the crux of all of this is a basic question: how do we adjust? We can’t control seasons, so we change in order to survive and be comfy. But the diminishing of everything else hoisted upon us every day? What choices do we have there?

I’m of the mind that the answer lies in simple luxuries: a good meal with friends, hand made things, the practice of bringing ideas to life simply because we can, leaning into creativity and community as the antidote to everything else we can not change. We are inherently creators (created in the image of THE Creator), deep down we know this even if we have forgotten. And in this light, the question what to make of a diminished thing? can have a fairly simple answer: create. Perhaps the word make is doing way more work here than it originally appeared. What to MAKE of a diminished thing.

Something happens when we create. It’s not just a tool of distraction from the diminishing of the world. Though, that does happen. But no, when we create, we cultivate. When we cultivate, change happens. Cultivating is the opposite of diminishing. This is one reason why I’m still writing songs and sharing them with you. I’m way beyond trying to make it. But I’m way into making. The world needs more beauty and truth. I can do that. And there are few things under the sun that make me feel more alive than the simple act of writing a new song.

You do this too. It may not be music, but it certainly is anything you do in pursuit of the good, the true, and the beautiful.

What to make of a diminished thing?

May we make well.

In the interest of making well...

I wanted to remind you of the opportunity to be a part of making something good, true, and beautiful. Making my album Wilderness is my main focus right now. After taking August and most of September off, we're back at it. There's much to do yet, and every donation helps. Every donation is matched dollar for dollar right now too. Donors will receive their choice of a vinyl or t-shirt when the album is released, an invite to a private listening party, twice monthly updates from the studio, and the satisfaction of being involved in making something meaningful. I want to help Joe make Wilderness.