WE have now reached the autumnal equinox, the time of equal days and nights. So we look back to the lovely summer we have had with long warm sunny days.

We give thanks for the good growing season. Our gardens have produced a bountiful harvest of delicious fruit and vegetables, full of vitamins and health-giving properties to help us through the winter months to come.

The animals too are in good condition and have enjoyed less rain than usual. The animals will also relish their winter fodder which has been gathered in good weather and will be especially nutritious.

We are approaching the darker part of our year when our nights will be longer than the days until the spring equinox comes around again.

This is the time when we can enjoy fellowship in the evenings, perhaps by a roaring log fire and talk again about the delights of summer.

We live in an equitable climate in which it does not get dangerously hot or cold.

I often think how glad I am that I was born in England. When I get news from my cousins in other lands and hear of the extremes of cold or heat that they are enduring, it makes me realise how fortunate I am.

In the churches and chapels of our land, harvest festivals have been celebrated with displays of all the luscious produce. Songs and hymns have been sung to God for all the blessings we have received and for all the many things we have to be thankful for.

If we recognise the good things in our life in this way, it will help us to be happy and we will be in much better spirits during the coming winter.

St Paul says in the Bible, 'Think on the things that are of good report.'

by Rachel Chamness, Clerk to the Okehampton Society of Friends