Ecclesiastes 3:1
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Oh how I love the fall of the year! Waking up in the morning with that cool nip in the air gets my heart jumping and my mind racing as I anticipate this beautiful time of year. Seeing God’s nature transform before my very eyes is something I will never get used to or ever get tired of. For those of you who have never been to beautiful Lake Guntersville (which is my home town by the way) it is just breathtaking! I love to go to Guntersville State Park and sit on a bench and gaze out at the wonders and beauty of the great creators masterpiece, it cleans my mind from clutter, and breathes new life into my soul.
Have you ever noticed just how many single leaves extend on a limb? How detailed every shape is, and how the colors vary from rusty red, harvest gold, and burnt orange! It is amazing this process of change that happens to creation by God’s design. Can you imagine someone thinking all this just happened? Every intricate detail God spoke into being and set in motion a cycle of change for all of our seasons. The past summer has been one of the hottest and driest that I can remember in a long time in North Alabama. I heard a report a few weeks ago that the temperatures had been 90 and above for 67 days straight. I am so thankful for these cooler and beautiful days of autumn even though we still have not had rain we know that change is soon coming, because it says in Daniel 2:21 “And He changeth the times and the season.” What if there was no change in our seasons? I think we would be a people most miserable, but just about the time we get weary in well doing our God sends the rain!! He knows what we need and when we need it.
Change in our seasons are so necessary for the creation to do what it needs to accomplish God’s purpose, and we too must go through change in our lives to be all we need to be, and accomplish what God has destined in us. In the springtime of our life there is so much newness and growth! Our eyes are opened wide as a young person, we do everything for the first time. Every day is a new adventure to all that we see and hear. This has really captured me lately, because I am a new grandmother! Our little grandson Caleb amazes us every day! We get to live fresh again through his eyes!! The joy we are experiencing watching him grow is just indescribable!! Every new move, every new word, and every breath he takes, I don’t want to miss a second of it. Lately one of his new words is more, more. He can’t get enough of all the new things that he is experiencing.
How we need to have that same desire for the many experiences the Lord has in store for us in our lives daily, with the eagerness, and innocence of a child. I am reminded of the scripture in Ecclesiastes 12:1 which is my prayer for my little Caleb. “Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh.” I realize how quick this season is passing and before long he will go to school, graduate, probably fall in love, choose a career. It seems during this time we all hurry through life wanting to get to the next part of our journey. God’s word is a reminder to redeem the time, and realize that “today is the day that the Lord has made and let’s be glad and rejoice in it.”
Summertime is for sure a heated race for us! We have mortgages, we have volunteered for every event our child has ever been in, we have college tuition, and on and on. Life has been so busy and if were not careful during this season of life we can omit the most important things, like our relationship with the Lord which can affect our marriage, and our family. Satan, if we are not careful can use even our time to distract us from the more important things in our life, so choose wisely. Some things are good, but God knows what is best! This for sure is a time to stay in prayer with the Lord’s leadership in every avenue of decisions we make, to fight with the armor of God, to be able to survive the heated days of summer.
Fall is a time to celebrate the harvest that God has allowed us to gather through the hot days of summer! Hopefully during this time we’ve gotten to pay off the mortgage, the college loans for our children, and we anticipate life not to be quite as demanding for our time. Usually during this phase of our life we experience that empty nest syndrome and even though it is lonely at times we are happy to watch our children’s life as they journey on their own. We know that life is not a bed of roses, it is usually a mixed cup, and sometimes the cool winds bring storms into our lives that shake our foundation. During this particular time of our life we went through a sifting that shook a lot of things loose from the trees that needed to be loosened, and the Lord who is the vine held us branches in his firm grip and gave us the confidence to know he would never leave us or forsake us. Have you ever noticed the one beautiful leaf on the tree that sometimes hangs on for dear life while the winds howl and the rain blows! Guess who is holding it on? God is so good and His mercy endures for ever!!
They say that winter for our life is from 60-80. I just turned 60 this summer so it appears I am in the early stages of winter. I find it so hard to believe that I am this age! I still feel young at heart and think I can still do a lot of things that I used to do only to be reminded by the aches and pain afterwards that use to never bother me. Just this week we took the little grandson to the park, and I climbed a ladder to the tunnel he had crawled in, which didn’t seem like much at the time, but by bedtime I hurt all over! Probably a little exercise would help that, but we don’t won’t to mention that!! Despite the physical changes, there is some other things that excite me like- retirement in a couple of years, having more time to visit family and friends, having more opportunity to volunteer, being more available to participate in the work of our church ministries, and having more time to read and study God’s word. I realize during this season of life that we begin to loose our loved ones more just because of the age we are. The last four years we lost 8 close family members and one of them was my dear mother!! You always think this will not happen to you, but death is sure, and we all must face it, but I am so thankful that for us that know the Lord it is the doorway to peace, and eternal happiness through Jesus Christ our Lord. “Oh death where is thy sting, oh grave where is thy victory?”
You see there has to be a change for us to be able to go home to heaven, and the Bible says we are being transformed from glory to glory. We can’t go to heaven in this body there has to be a change for us to see Jesus, and that change only comes with the physical death or the rapture of his saints. 2ndCor. 4:6 states this “Though the outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day.” This is the time of resurgence for our soul! It’s about to take flight to be with Jesus in the home He prepared just for us. I was reminded of this just a few days ago at the funeral home as I watched one of our precious little ladies at church , who now uses a walker, embrace one of her sister’s , who now is in a wheel chair, in tears as they wept over the loss of another sister. They mourned for their loss, but knew in their heart that it wouldn’t be long till they all were united again in a place where there is no more pain, no more sorrow, where former things are passed away.
We all witness lots of changes in our life, but Matthew 24:35 confirms this-“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” What wonderful confidence we have in Christ alone.
I pray you enjoy this beautiful fall season!
Winter Is Coming…………
Diane Mann
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#dianemannblogs
