Well, it’s another Sunday morning. “They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ ” Jeremiah 5:24 (ESV)
Just so you know, I love fall, the cool crisp mornings. It’s that time when God will soon be painting those beautiful colors that only he can do. They are only with us for a blink of an eye then they are gone, but while they are here it is breathtaking. We had some wonderful benefits Growing up in southern Illinois, one of them is the Shawnee National Forest. That is a place where God shows some of his amazing handiwork. Looking out at the beautiful forests and across the breathtaking valleys below at all of the wonderful browns, reds, yellows, greens, and oranges that our God displays for us is awesome. It’s no accident, He carefully placed each tree in these forests to make this pleasing to all of us. I am not sure why it is, but as we grow older we learn to appreciate these things more, maybe it’s just that we have slowed down and are looking now.
The colors of fall, the crisp mornings, the smell of a bonfire burning in the evening, the sound that the Little Wabash River makes as it gently flowing through the New Haven bottoms. The feel of your Grandmother’s hand stitched quilt on those cool fall mornings. The smell of leaves burning as we ready our yards for the winter to come.
These are a few of my security blankets, everyone has their own, they keep us mentally and spiritually warm like backing up to a pot belly stove with a nice fire burning on those cold winter mornings. As the year draws to an end we are always promised a day of renewal, for those who don’t like fall, spring will soon be here. There will always be a beginning when there is an end. Our LORD gives us a promise of a new beginning, we can read this in 1 John 2:24-25 where we learn this truth, “As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He Himself made to us: eternal life.”
We have this to look forward to, something to brighten our path and make our journey more enjoyable, eternal life. Knowing we will be with our LORD and our family forever gives us a warm feeling. We read in 1 Corinthians, 15 : 51 – 57 this truth, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’
The Bible tells us as believers we will rise and as a follower of Jesus Christ I believe every word written in the Bible. I believe there is a better place for us. Death is not the end but yet the beginning. In Romans 14:8, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, wrote this, For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. So, as we walk this path that is in front of us we must try to walk it as closely as we can to the way Christ Jesus would ask us to. Like it says in Romans 14:8 we should live to the Lord. I ask myself daily this question. Am I do all I can do to please my LORD and Savior right now? Am I living to the Lord’s expectations of me? Can I do more? Do you ask yourself these questions or some like them? Somedays they are easy to answer. Some days they are impossible to answer. I try to do my best, I know I will fall short, so does God, but He loves me just the same. He loves all of us the same.
So, fall is here, we can see it all around us. We can enjoy these days of fall and know that as we look forward, there will be a renewal. Just as the year has its fall, so do we. As we reach our fall, know our spiritual spring is right around the corner. Enjoy all that God does in this time of our lives. Philippians 3:13 tells us this, ‘Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.’ We have that guarantee, our Lord says if we believe there will be a renewal. We know that through His awesome grace we will see the glory of Heaven. As we enjoy God’s handiwork always remember that God truly loves each and every one of you and so do I.
