Pat Propster
Well it’s official, autumn has arrived. Did you feel it, how about see it and smell it? My wife says autumn is her favorite color. It’s the colors, the harvests, the smells, the heater turned on for the first time, the spices. You might say for her it’s Awetumn!
She is not a Christmas rusher, she loves Christmas, but it must start with family, gather, grateful, thankful, caring, sharing and of course pumpkins and decorations of harvest.
As seasons have changes our lives do also. These changes may not be as predictable as the weather seasons but changes are inevitable. Some are gradual, some are abrupt, some are painful, some are embraceable, some are desired, others not so much, but all are in inevitable. Change happens!
Ecclesiastes 3, states:
To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to…
Right now it’s quiz time.
Name the four seasons.
What order did you place them?
Did you start with winter or spring?
Carole King in the early ‘70s wrote a very popular song entitled: You got a friend. She listed the seasons starting with winter.
The calendar year starts with us being one month into the winter of the previous year, the first full season of the year is spring.
Interestingly, winter is the season that is shared in the current, as well as the previous year. In a sense, it’s a previous, current and future season. Winters provide rest, as well as preparation for growth.
Charles Dickens in his classic, “A Tale of Two Cities,” wrote: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Change is inevitable, good and evil a reality, victory and defeat a part of life, suffering and loss, growth and birth a delicate balance. But in it we are not alone. Isaiah 55:6-13 states: Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. "For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
But please know this, in all the change there is a constant. His name is Jesus. Seize the day with Him! Embrace the 24 hours knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is closer than a friend. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, all you have to do is call and He will be there, He is more than a friend, He is our Rescuer.
Happy Harvest Season and Happy Thanksgiving, and may Christmas bring the Joy of Salvation in your lives.
Pat Propster is pastor at Calvary Chapel Carson City.