Autumn is Coming

 

 

  It's Fall once more- the weather here in Hannibal has darkened to dull, overcast grey skies promising rain to come now. Right now I can feel the change, sizzling and crackling, like invisible energy in the air. Change. A promise of things to come. Wistful. Hopeful. Change. And it's about time, too. I have to admit I'm a bit impatient for it... yesterday, I was thinking about how Fall is a time for change. From the leaves to new jobs. Moving. Having children. Remembering old friends and dreams.

Does your own heart yearn and call for the Wild places? The Holy. The Sacred. The Set-apart?

 

Thesis: Change is coming. 

Fall is a time for change, and I can feel it. I can begin to see it. This is why it is so paramount to press on being changed. God hears and sees us. He is with us. You know your own lives- look to your own struggles and pressures, worries and hopes- God is there with you, changing. Each instance of our own steady perseverance is helping people so much. Keep on it.

 

Scripture:

1 Pet 3:8-12

All Christians

⁸ Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. ⁹ Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. ¹⁰ For the Scriptures say,

“If you want to enjoy life
    and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
¹¹ Turn away from evil and do good.
    Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
¹² The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
    and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
    against those who do evil.”

This echoes David's Psalms, too

 
It's funny- I've found my mornings pretty well planned out with writing or reading- coffee-brewing and letting the dogs out for a backyard romp... but when afternoon hits- I feel listless... caught between the horns of feeling the indescribable pull, insistence, demand, to do Something... married with the plain fact that there really is nothing to do in my house right now. What can be done, generally, is.

 “The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located
will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them,and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols,breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory


It's during this time, I've really come to appreciate impromptu visits from friends... the base feel of joy when my wife gets home... watching the droplets of rain splash down on my windows- or drop with plinks and plops into forgotten summer gardening pots- empty on my back deck.

Change.


1. Last night, the Old Settlers Association showed Captain American II at the Fire House, in town-  

2. Golfing with Kyle

3. The Job
 
Take your worries- take your cares- and we are encouraged to bring them to Jesus. But dont stop there- leave them there- and watch over time, not just for quick turn arounds- as God plays himself beautifully- healing, moving, changing, helping, building. Because he is. 

Think back in the Bible, or in your own personal life- about how big problems usually weren't solved in a day. The path to resolution and healing takes years. It's easy to be angry or bitter about it, believe me, I know... but have you ever really realized how incredibly detailed sorts of creatures we are. We aren't Bang Switch Fixed sorts of people- we are more like trees- growing up and throwing wide branches out over years and years of steady, turbulent growth. I think God knows it takes years of tending for us to grow up. 

Some of the hardest, toughest wood in the whole world originates from northern Scotland- growing up in the arctic winds, on barren highlands is the only way to create this sort of strength.


1 Pet 3:8-12

All Christians

⁸ Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude. ⁹ Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing. ¹⁰ For the Scriptures say,

“If you want to enjoy life
    and see many happy days,
keep your tongue from speaking evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
¹¹ Turn away from evil and do good.
    Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
¹² The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right,
    and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord turns his face
    against those who do evil.”

The feel the wind bites and nibble at my cold skin just before the sunrise up over the Mississippi river whenever I let my dogs out in the morning. I watch the infinite stars while outside the movie night. I spend time with old friends or I begin to get ready for a new job I feel this Yearning. A Change.

I remember CS Lewis writing in one of his wonderful tales, “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you," said the Aslan.”  
 
It may have been a hard, long Summer- The Old Ways may not make sense any more... our Old Selves may no longer be able to answer our Old Lives... but listen to the Winds... There is a New Voice on the Breeze...

Change is Coming. Fall is a time for change, and I can feel it. I can begin to see it. This is why it is so paramount to press on being changed. God hears and sees us. He is with us. You know your own lives- look to your own struggles and pressures, worries and hopes- God is there with you, changing. Each instance of our own steady perseverance is helping people so much. Keep on it.

If you are feeling the yearning and the calling, which so often arises during Fall- realize it is there for a reason. It's not the things themselves which we associate with- but with God himself.