Friday Freelance: FALL

"I have seen the heavy load God has given
To the children of men with which to humble them:

He has made everything beautiful in His time;

He has also set eternity in their mortal hearts."
~ King Solomon

Friday Freelance: FALL
#perspective

Any other month of the year, Colorado beats Michigan hands down. Give me sunny over cloudy, mountains over water, and active over sedate.

But not in October. Michigan was made for the season of apple orchards and cider mills, when wood stove fires and flannel sheets appear inside, boots and sweaters outside. And leaves? Michigan has trees the way Colorado has mountains. I scarcely notice the uncomfortable chill in the warmth of autumn color.

Here the Lord lets loose with gold as pure as a refiner's and oranges so florescent they glow. There isn't a shade of red missing, everything between stop-you-in-your-tracks fiery vermilion to deep purple. Throw in a rare day of sunshine with sky of blue flanked by earth of brown and green, and there isn't a color of the rainbow missing from the divine pallette.

Fall is my favorite season—but not for its glory. Now is the time of completion. The new life of spring brings hope after barren winter. After the grimy toil of summer, autumn is hope realized. Small seeds have produced fruit in abundance, and this is therefore the season of giving thanks.

And let us not grow weary while doing good,
for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Galatians 6:9 (NKJV)

My heart has been heavy all week for my precious friend Jennifer, an Iowa farmer's wife. They've had some difficulties this year, and have yet to reap a harvest. She recently wrote about their hope in God through all of it: "Why We Don't Give Up." She and her husband have inspired me to see this particular autumn in a different light.

Twenty-one years ago this month I told the Lord He could have my life and I'd serve Him. With His strength and leading, I've been sowing, watering, and working the land by putting His Word in my heart, praying without ceasing, and digging up the weeds of sin in my life.

It has seemed summer would never end. I've longed to see fruit in the areas of my life which have commanded my attention. I've fought off weariness, toiling exhaustively. The point came when I, like Jennifer's husband, said simply, "God is in control ... God's got it." I let go.

Without me noticing, I entered a season of harvest. Seeds nearly forgotten now bear fruit. The humble things, from which I expected least, are what is producing most. I scarcely notice the uncomfortable challenges in the warmth of bright color. You see, the Lord has surprised me with glorious and varied hues of praise He's put in my life (next Friday's post).

This season might last another fifty minutes or another fifty years, before autumn also ends and a time of rest comes. If I'd like to continue reaping fruit, I must likewise continue to be faithful in those things which brought me here. And I may yet see fruit where I've sown but not reaped.

Having entered it, I am content to have my life remain in the season of fall.

Contrasting points-of-view, questions and feedback are invited. Post to

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