I admit that growing old(er) isn't easy for me. In spite of numerous health issues, I've always kept busy, owned and operated my own business for more than a decade and been involved in a number of community and non-profit activities. Just in case it sounds as if I'm boasting, I'm actually doing a bit of whining. Like it or lump it, I'm beginning to slow down.
Driving home from town this afternoon I was musing on my status when I received a wonderful lesson from the leaves drifting down in front of my vehicle. Looking around me (carefully, of course) I noted the beauty of the multi-coloured foliage. It seemed like just a few weeks ago that we were reveling in springtime greens. Now we hold our breath in wonder at the shades of orange, brown and gold draped across the landscape.
That's when the light came on: instead of focusing on the incredible beauty that included a joyous celebration of harvest, family and friends, I'd seen only the cold and dreariness of the approaching winter. With a sigh of blended relief and rejoicing I realized that fall isn't a season of disappointment or uselessness, it's a celebration of beauty, maturity and fruitfulness. "Oh God," I found myself praying, "Forgive my failure to see you in every season. Let the lessons I've learned through the spring and summer of my life bless my world. Let the beauty of maturity encourage each life I touch. Help me believe that the hard times have served to produce something of value within me."
"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." Genesis 8:22
Seasons come and go. Life moves on. Young people (if all goes well) become seniors. Life changes. God doesn't. Hallelujah!
