Today marks the first day of Autumn. I love the fall season...when we lived in Ohio I loved the changing of colors with the leaves, pumpkins, and fires in the wood burner. In Florida, it's a little different...we are thankful when the temperature dips just a little and the fall festivals kick in, with their craft booths, food, and lots of pumpkins.
(Northeast Ohio last fall when I was home)
(Hunsader's Pumpkin Festival in 2009 here in Florida)
Normally, everyone has a wonderful memory that includes the autumn season. I remember a very special Thanksgiving season when we traveled to North Carolina to spend time with dear friends. The weather was cooler and the leaves had changed. Another special memory involved flying to North Carolina to spend a long weekend in the mountains with some girlfriends in a cabin. Shopping and eating and talking with a beautiful fall view!
But, the season of autumn normally shows things dying or coming to fruition. Corn stalks die, trees changed their leaf colors and fall to the ground. Pumpkins reach their picking weight and the vines die. It is very much a season of change. The earth is preparing for winter in many places-things becoming bare and going into hibernation for a season.
This is a cycle that God created. I love each season for it's own reasons and am thankful for the changes that God allows in this beautiful world.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
"To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
A time to be born, And a time to die;
A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;
A time to kill, And a time to heal;
A time to break down, And a time to build up;
A time to weep, And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, And a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones, A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to gain, And a time to lose;
A time to keep, And a time to throw away;
A time to tear, And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;
A time to love,And a time to hate;
A time of war,And a time of peace."
It reminds me that the changes must happen or we wouldn't appreciate the different seasons quite as much.
Fall sometimes feels like an artist getting ready to start with a new canvas. Everything dies off and becomes bare for the snow of Winter-a white canvas to start fresh and prepare to burst out with all of the colors of Spring and Summer!
Maybe this change of season makes you stop and think about something in your life that you need to let die and become bare of. Old, useless, or bad habits. This can be a time for you to wipe the slate clean-talk to God-confess and start anew. Let the negative words and actions drop from you and be "raked" into a big pile to be burned. Let yourself be "bared" before God for Him to work in your life, to stretch you, and help you grow for Him. When trees and shrubs are pruned in the fall, they come back healthier in the spring. They are pruned or cleaned up so that they will produce more fruit. This is what God does to us as well if we let Him. If we are living one day at a time and striving to please Him with our lives then we will be producing some fruit. He will prune us so that we will produce more. This may mean that some adversity may come your way. But if we never had any adversity, then we would only be coasting along and the times of bounty would not mean as much to us. I am learning to be thankful in every situation and look to the Lord to see what He has for me to learn.
John 15:1-2
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."
Take the time to sit and enjoy a little taste or sight or scent of Autumn. Happy Fall y'all!
""In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb color effects as from August to November." Rose G. Kingsley
No comments:
Post a Comment