Fall is here!! Taba alerted me yesterday that it was the first day of Autumn, Yippee!! She can hardly wait for winter (snow), so she went bounding through the house exclaiming the arrival of this joyous season to anyone who would listen.
I am so grateful this Fall... While my daughter counts the days until winter's arrival, I'm basking in the beginnings of this season... my favorite time of the year... I'm so thrilled that we can actually experience and enjoy the season much more fully than we did in FL, where there wasn't much change in the weather really to speak of, and definitely no display of Fall colors like here in TN, which brings such of a sense of nostalgia, rich with remembrances that are embedded in my soul from years that I spent growing up in the Pacific NW.
This year, I've been especially overcome with this sense of fullness it brings to my soul, an expectancy of yet unknown discoveries...a promise of life to come, memories of harvests past, and future bounties. As the leaves take on their brilliant colors, even as they're preparing to die and flutter down, where they will be lost forever to a season of dark, still rot beneath a blanket of gloriously clean, white snow, I'm reminded of how in their very death, these leaves provide warmth and nutrients for the plants that will grow up from their rich decay next Spring... What a miraculous display the seasons do show us, of the cycles of life to death to life again... these leaves are glorious, and the hillsides will soon be ablaze with their display, famous for their beauty... *sighs*... death... I have alot of self to die to right now. But therein is found the promise of a simultaneous harvest...
Yes, Fall, in all its fullness, is especially rich in analogy to me right now. It's a time of harvests, of thanksgiving, of death, which is really making way for life anew... beginnings. A new season, a time of reflection and repentance, as we prepare for a new year, as we look forward to rest and renewal, to beginning again... Redemption is upon us... Autumn is full this year. My cup truly overflows... and Lord, I am thankFULL.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
~Matthew 16.24,25
Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
You have put gladness in my heart,
More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.~Psalm 4.6b-8
In the midst of this cool and brisk season, my Creator is greeting me with crisply glorious promises of wonderful blessings to come. This Fall I will have breathed on this earth for 32 years... This Fall we've lived here in TN for a whole year now. We are starting afresh with our studies... Soon we shall be celebrating Thanksgiving, and the Feast of Tabernacles, and then Rosh Hashannah, and Yom Kippur... all of these Fall Feasts from the Bible have such richly prophetic Messianic significance. We have learned so much from them over the years, and their object lessons have been living water, quietly drawing our roots deeper into Him, as our understanding of the great heritage we've been grafted into grows. Yes, life with our Lord is rich... I do hope and pray that it will be a fruitful year, a faithful year.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.~Psalm 1.2,3
~ Problem of Job ~ William Blake, illustrations for the Book of Job
"At this also my heart trembles,
And leaps from its place.
Hear attentively the thunder of His voice,
And the rumbling that comes from His mouth.
He sends it forth under the whole heaven,
His lightning to the ends of the earth.
After it a voice roars;
He thunders with His majestic voice,
And He does not restrain them when His voice is heard.
God thunders marvelously with His voice;
He does great things which we cannot comprehend.
For He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth';
Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength.
He seals the hand of every man,
That all men may know His work.
The beasts go into dens,
And remain in their lairs.
From the chamber of the south comes the whirlwind,
And cold from the scattering winds of the north.
By the breath of God ice is given,
And the broad waters are frozen.
Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds;
He scatters His bright clouds.
And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance,
That they may do whatever He commands them
On the face of *the whole earth.
He causes it to come,
Whether for correction,
Or for His land,
Or for mercy.
"Listen to this, O Job;
Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God.
Do you know when God dispatches them,
And causes the light of His cloud to shine?
Do you know how the clouds are balanced,
Those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
Why are your garments hot,
When He quiets the earth by the south wind?
With Him, have you spread out the skies,
Strong as a cast metal mirror?
"Teach us what we should say to Him,
For we can prepare nothing because of the darkness.
Should He be told that I wish to speak?
If a man were to speak, surely he would be swallowed up.
Even now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies,
When the wind has passed and cleared them.
He comes from the north as golden splendor;
With God is awesome majesty.
As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him;
He is excellent in power,
In judgment and abundant justice;
He does not oppress.
Therefore men fear Him;
He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart."
~Job 37
