Reflections on Autumn
Dear Friends,
As you read this, the season of Autumn will have arrived, a season with the
promise of a good harvest; a time of mellowness when leaves turn to gold and
the misty evening air has a slight chill.
I remember as a child, autumn meant the first lighting of a coal fire in
the evening, hot milk before bedtime and the excitement and fear of starting a
new class or school. Now in the autumn
of my life, it brings a mixture of nostalgia as I look back at the blessing of
life’s high summer along with an excitement, sometimes trepidation, of what the
future holds; and in looking back rejoice to see how God has led me thus far.
But there is one certainty - the future will hold change. Increasingly as we age we experience the
passing of loved ones and there are lonely gaps in our lives. The realization too of our declining vitality
and health means some of us cannot do the things we once did; our world changes
daily and not always for the best. Some
of our children, or their children, will be leaving home for the first time
this Autumn, some nests will feel very empty, the silence deafening. Our children are growing up in a world and
environment far different from our own, many of them feeling, as some of us do,
desperately afraid of what the future holds.
In the bible the word autumn occurs only once in Jude 1:12, where false
teachers are compared to “Autumn trees without fruit”. God expects us to be fruitful. He expects us to pass on to our children and
others his true teaching and his love.
And we who have experienced life and seen God’s blessings in our lives,
who have seen his provision and felt his guidance, still have much to do. Every farmer knows that after the corn has
been harvested there is yet more work waiting to be done. It maybe that in the autumn of our years we
are called to take advantage of God’s Harvest in us, and sow the seeds he has
stored within us over the years.
Everyone is needed; everyone is valued doing his work. There is no age
restriction.
Amidst this season of change, of transition, one thing, one person never
changes, our God and his love for us which feeds and nurtures us but also
braces us, like stored harvest grain, for the cold winter days. Be assured, in faith we will enjoy the love
and fellowship of God for all time. The world may grow old and fade, the
seasons change, and harvests fail but God, who has been our help in ages past,
is still our hope, our strength and support for today and for the years to
come. For our God knows the end as he
knew the beginning and he will bless us in whatever is offered to him in faith
with thanksgiving.
May your harvest be fruitful,
with love John
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