Autumn is often a truly beautiful season, as the colours change and brighten the cooler days. Soon enough, the golden leaves will fall, the mighty oaks will bare their arms defiantly against the coming of winter. For a few weeks, we enjoy what poet John Keats called the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.”
There is no truth in the rumour that autumn 2020 is to be renamed the season of “mellow frightfulness.”
My garden is currently enriched by the last flush of glorious dahlias, and a select band of roses making the most of the opportunity to flourish. The scruffy “lawn” is slowing down its growth at last, one more cut before the mower goes on holiday…
Endings, fadings, harvesting- and sowing. Alliums and crocus corms will be snuggling in the moist warm earth, and next year’s hardy annuals will be sown as seeds in place of the distinctly shabby show of marigolds and poppies. A time of change, a period of rest, the first signs of hope for a new year in the garden.
All the hard work invested this year has borne fruit (well, seed-heads and rosehips mostly) and it’s time for the final tidy-up before winter.
I’m looking forward to the daffodils already! Some of the wallflowers already hold bright petals aloft, a banner of promise, giving hints of the splendour to come. Be happy! There is hope.
Our own existence has autumn seasons too. Decreasing light levels mean we will be indoors more, swathed in jumpers against the cold winds and creeping frosts. Autumn should be a time to reflect on successes, ponder our failures, make plans for next Spring. Resting, as Nature does, is very important- we cannot safely operate at full speed seven days a week, 52 weeks per year, despite the blandishments or threats from the “experts” who think of us a machines to be productive.
Autumn reminds us to take stock. The temporary will pass, the completed can be laid aside, and only the important needs our attention now. Next year’s fruitfulness will depend on our rest and recovery now.
Isaiah the prophet summed things up rather well- and added the crucial reminder which we forget at our peril. Life changes… but God does not.
Isaiah 40:8 (NLT) “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Time then to listen. What is the Lord saying today? His eternal Promise stands; the Kingdom of God is among us, and the Reign of Christ the King has begun. What purpose does God hold in front of us next? How will we be fruitful next year?
Enjoy the autumn glories! Listen to the Word of God, sow that in your heart, and prepare to see the wonders and mighty works that God will do.
The Reflectionary 