The Autumn Leaves

Clear blue skies. Hillsides alight with orange bracken. Reds and sienna, bronze and gold, leaves and needles cling and release, littering the ground beneath and laying down a bouncy carpet. A perfect autumn, after a perfect summer.

Already, though, many trees stand bare, denuded and prepared for wintry storms. For wintry storms shall come.

I feel the earth move. We live in ‘interesting’ times. Brutality and war. Injustice and oppression. Calloused hearts and shrouded minds. Confusion and bewilderment. Lost in a maze.

Our God is our strength, a very present help in times of trouble. For many, the times of trouble are here. For others, the autumn leaves are falling and the prospect of a freeze looms. But in God we trust, and we know that just as day follows night, so spring follows winter: new life, new hope, new prospects.

I live today with a grateful heart, grateful to my God and king.

Autumn Beauty

Mouldering Damp

While we were away, autumn had its final fling and the trees divested themselves of their brilliant colours. The rain came in copious amounts and the result is a carpet of mouldering brown/black vegetation spread thick at the sides of the drive, on the flower beds and in places on the grass.

It looks horrible, but I know that if I get out there with bin bags and a spade, I can scoop up bags full of nutrients and organic matter which will benefit the garden down the line. Even in the immediate future, the filled bags can rest on top of the carrot crop, protecting them from frost until we need them.

I will leave the black cover on the flower beds for a few months as it helps protect plants from sharp drops in the temp, but must remember in early spring to scoop it off then, so that we can enjoy the snowdrops and crocus which will be fighting their way through the smothering cover.

It’s that season. That season where there is benefit in stepping aside from the daily frenzy and taking a look at whatever is covering me. Things that once distinguished me perhaps, like the glorious autumn leaves which bedecked the trees. Life changes. What once worked for me, works no longer. 

But all is not lost. Nothing should be discarded. 

We are encouraged on every side to recycle, reuse, and avoid wastage. Nothing which has been in my life is wasted. Everything has been beautiful in its time, or at least had a purpose in its time, and is beneficial for the season in which I find myself now.

This is the day the Lord has made. I am rejoicing and being glad in it. I loved the spring and summer of my life, but autumn, too, has its beauties.

Glorious

The changing colours at this time of year are stunning. As I sat praying in the conservatory this morning, I was looking out at an acer which is just on the cusp of change. 

Jesus told us to abide in him because he is the root, he is the source of life in us. The leaves of the trees need to ‘abide’ in order to continue taking their nourishment from the roots of the trees. But of course the physical life cycle of leaves decrees that they change colour, die back, and fall off. 

Just before they drop, the leaves are more glorious than at the beginning of the cycle. 

Sometimes Christian leaders can look glorious, but if they are not remaining in Jesus, abiding in his love, they will eventually drop away. 

Sometimes we other Christians can look pretty good too, doing all the right things, saying all the right things, showing the gifts God has blessed us with, and as long as we remain in Jesus, connected to the source, we will indeed continue to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into the area in which we live. If we stop living close to Jesus, inspired and filled with his Spirit, we, too, will drop away.

The Christian life is organic. It’s not about head knowledge alone, but about combining the head knowledge which affirms our faith with the heart knowledge received through experiences in the presence of God. 

Jesus never did anything off his own bat. He only did what he saw his father in heaven doing. He lived close to his father in heaven. He abided in him, filled with the Holy Spirit. 

He said we will do more than he did if we abide in him, if we pray in his name. 

We don’t want to look glorious. We want Him to look glorious.