seasons...
In the Northwestern U.S., especially in the inland
elevations, there is a distinction, sometimes sharp, between the seasons.
Here in Idaho, following a deep snow winter, a high water spring, and a hot,
arid summer, autumn has arrived.
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Autumn |
Remember the Vision of Love
Love is patient; Love is kind; Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. (I Corinthians 13:4-8) |
After a trip to Pullman/Spokane last weekend to celebrate
my granddaughter's first birthday, I returned to the mountains to see September
frost had blanketed the nights and the undergrowth foliage had abruptly changed.
Thursday, green; Monday, yellow. That fast. And through the past
week, unseasonably warm daytime temperatures have not prevented the fall earth
tone colors from deepening and intensifying. They will continue to do so -
for a time - before changing yet again and moving ever on into the natural order
of what is next.
As a lifelong resident of these northern climes, there is a
rhythm and beauty to the changing seasons that is comforting to my soul.
Our planet revolves, this old world turns, the seasons
change. Far beyond human control and intervention, there are natural,
universal forces at work. Thus far, no amount of tinkering or artificial
external influence has changed that reality, and every season forever serves a
purpose. Winter, dormancy. Spring, fresh beginnings. Summer,
established growth and expression. Autumn, fruition, harvest, and letting
go.
Divine Order.
I take time to notice and appreciate this current change of
seasons. And as I reflect on the vivid oranges and bold yellows of the
deciduous leaves; as the old needles of the pines turn brown and drop into the
wind, as the nights grow cooler and then cold, I will remember.
I will remember that this current season of narrow vision
and violence and
war and misunderstanding and fear and mistrust in many of our global human affairs will have
its season. And then it will change.
And though this change cannot be easily predicted or simply
anticipated or marked by a date on a calendar, it will, in its own time and way,
surely arrive.
In remembrance of that, even in a season of doubt and
impatience, my faith is renewed. And with these words, I pray, so too, is
yours.
-Rev. Tom
For everything there is a
season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time
to die;
a time to plant and a time to
pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to
heal;
a time to break down and a time
to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to
laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to
dance;
a time to throw away stones,
and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time
to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to
lose;
a time to keep, and a time to
throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to
sew;
a time to keep silence, and a
time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to
hate;
a time for war, and a time for
peace.
-Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
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All things which have a soul change, and possess in themselves a principle
of change, and in changing move according to the law and to the order of
destiny...
-Plato |
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