Fall is one of my favorite seasons, second to Spring. Both seasons have a great significance. Spring is all about renewal. Fall is about approacing the end of the year. I love watching the trees changing colors to yellow, orange and red. It is as if you are watching a living canvas, especially when looking out at the trees in the horizon. I feel so blessed living in NWA (North West Arkansas) where we have all four seasons. In Southern California where I lived for over 50 years, we only had 2 seasons, hot in the summer and cooler and wet in the winter. The trees and shrubs in our backyard were mostly olive trees, pink crepe myrtles, oleanders with flowers in shades of pink, red and white, a bottlebrush tree with beautiful red flowers, that always attracted hummingbirds, and a bunch of cypress trees, between us and our neighbors. Most of these trees were green all year round and some of them shed their leaves, but they never changed colors. Nevetheless, they were beautiful in their own way.
Here in Arkansas, we have red maples, redbuds, dogwoods, pine trees and a bunch of oak and walnut trees. They all change colors and the leaves fall to the ground for us to pick up. That is not my favorite thing to do, but it's ok, because we get to see the beauty of the colors first. This time of the year, the air starts to feel cooler and fresh, which is a welcoming thing after the hot, humid summer months. Nature and the changing seasons always teaches us lessons about God. It reminds us that there is a season to our lives as well. In every season we can be useful and productive in different ways. In our younger days we work and labor and in our later years we get to see the harvest and rewards. We get to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We see the faithfulness of God and his promises fulfilled, when we obey His commands. There may have been some seasons in our lives we did not like. However, because we have time to look back, and reflect, we understand why some things happened or did not happen.
One of my favorite books in the Old Testament is the Book of Ecclesiastes. The author of the book is King Solomon, who we are told was the wisest man who ever lived (other than Jesus). "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.".
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to weep and a time to laugh.
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time for peace and a time for war
and more...........
The message of this book is that Life withour God is meaningless. We will have happy times, sad times and challenging times in our lives, and yet we can rejoice in each season and be thankful to God who is always with us. He is there to guide us, protect us and care for us. Remember that God is in control and follow God's commandments....to the best of your ability. Sometimes we fall short in the category. We. We may slip here and there, because of our human nature, but God is loving and very forgiving.
Ecclesiastes is a great book to read because it reveals to us how little control we have over our lives, contrary to what we may believe. It also teaches us lessons to apply to each of our seasons.
Be thankful for the season in your life.
Have a Geat Day!
