DAYS of AUTUMN RAIN

Being a lover of lyrics and poetry, I find much inspiration for written expressions of faith through these means. Poetry and music seem to be able to take our minds to places that the simple sentence cannot. Being blessed to live in an area where all four seasons have the potential of being perfect seasonal pictures, I find myself being taken to times from the past as well as to imagined future settings and to comforting thoughts when troubled.

My recent 'find' is titled My November Guest by Robert Frost. We sometimes feel sorrow or loss when November has taken away our golden, warm rays and left what some see as only cold and gray days. But not everyone, and not always.

My sorrow when she's here with me

  Thinks these dark days of autumn rain

Are beautiful as days can be …

She's glad the birds are gone away

She's glad her simple worsted gray

  Is silver now with clinging mist…

The desolate, deserted tree

  The faded earth, the heavy sky

The beauties she so truly sees

She thinks I have not eye for these

  And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know

  The love of bare November days

Before the coming of the snow

But it were vain to tell her so …

Must we have sorrow visit us to point out what should be readily recognized as obvious beauty?  The grays and dark tone in life's picture (as a whole) are not only to highlight the bright colors, but are indeed an important aspect of the picture itself. If this poem should be read as a metaphor for the seasons of our life, it should encourage us to embrace the autumn of our lives – the spring and summer have passed – but there is yet much good and beauty to observe and enjoy “before the coming of the snow.” (See Ecclesiastes 12 - poetic language for the effects of aging.)

The spring of our lives brought energy and boundless possibilities. Summer was so frantically busy – so much to be done. Shouldn't our slower-paced autumnal days be a  time of bountiful memories and contemplation, in which we continue to learn of God and all He has revealed of Himself to us through His Word and His creation? Winter will be here all too soon and in spite of all its festivities, the days will be colder and shorter. But even then our God will be with us and we will be all the more aware of that if we live our waning days as we ought: duly assessing, learning from the past, observing realities (both the harsh and the pleasant), storing precious, fruitful memories in a place in our minds and hearts where they might be easily reached, settling accounts, and (in spite of difficulties) becoming ever more aware (not less so through embittered spirits) of the majesty and power of God. After all, it is He who oversees and holds all things together (Colossians 1:16-17 & Romans 11:36). When the snow does come, may the warmth that comforts us most be the fire which God has placed within us through His Spirit's always-presence.

Our culture delights in the bright and glowing. But surely, for those who know and walk with God, there are abundant riches to behold even in the subtlety of the more temperate and neutral shades of what some would consider the mundane. This is true because in all seasons we are certain of God's faithfulness, loving kindness, compassion and the “once for all” sin debt which Christ has paid for us through the bitter chill of death. Yet, after the worst of His suffering came the brilliance and warmth of the resurrection.  (Hebrews 10:10 & Lamentations 3:22-23). ~ DLA

“The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

My Father's World

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. - Psalm 121:2

This is my Father's world, and to my listening ear

all nature sings and 'round me rings, the music of the spheres.

At a particular afternoon hour the lowering sun is at the perfect slant so as to cast the perfect light for the bursting beauty of October's color display. It is as if the tree community (rather, the One who orchestrates the event) foresaw the shedding weeks before it began and decided to make a gradual color display, which resulted a parade of a stunning greens, yellows, reds, oranges, pinks, violets, scarlets and ... (you name it) shades of color explosion, before going into their winter rest. And for a backdrop? …

O suns and skies and clouds of June

And flowers of June together

You cannot rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather...

- Helen Hunt Jackson

 

This is my Father's world! - Job 38:4 & Psalm 119:90

“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years.” - Genesis 1:14

My childhood surroundings and circumstances gave me constant opportunity to observe the wonders of God's creation:  singing birds – each with his own song (excepting the exceptionally talented mockingbird), the endless depth of the sky with its constant flow of passing cloud-ships of varying shapes and colors, lightning bugs – miraculous little beings, trees at every level of maturity – the sapling pine to the mighty oak, gentle cooling breezes and billowing or fierce winds, the changing seasons – each with its own kind of beauty, and the morning light which always brought new hope... The “lilies white” were not then within my sight but the dandelion, milkweed, wild berry plants and tall field grasses were just as amazing and delightful as was our mother's 'old-time' rose bush which never failed to bloom profusely. Our loving, devoted and free ranging dogs along with lizards, terrapins, roly-poly bugs and even the occasional unwelcome green or black snake – all that could and should be observed with youthful eyes and a mind not yet cluttered with vain philosophies – all these wonders confirmed the existence of the Creator-God, Who, I'd been told, created all things! 

This is my Father's world!

Yet the story is not all told.

~

“Behold these are the fringes of His way;

and how faint a word we hear of Him!...” Job 26:14

~

“ The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”  Psalm 19:1

(See Genesis 1:11 & 20-25, Job 7: 6-7 & 37: 9-13, Psalm 8:3 & Luke 12: 27)

Teach Us to Number Our Days

Hezekiah was very ill – to the point of death. The prophet, Isaiah, came with a message from God telling him to set his house in order for he was to die. Hezekiah, being only human, dreaded the veil of death and greatly desired to recover from his sickness. So turning his face to the wall, he poured his heart's longings and words out to the Lord with great weeping. The king of Judah, crying like a baby and pleading to his God – the God who was able to do all things – for his life.

Before Isaiah could exit the palace God spoke to him again as His messenger. He was to go back and tell Hezekiah that his prayer had been heard and his tears had been seen; God would add another fifteen years to his lifespan. He would also deliver him and Jerusalem from the fierce king of Assyria along with his army of the most dreaded and vicious warriors. (See II Kings 20)

According to Isaiah 38, Hezekiah later wrote about his near-death experience, his sorrowful thoughts while facing death, and of his deliverance:

...In the middle of my life...I am deprived of the rest of my years...

I shall look on man no more...From day unto night Thou dost make an end of me...

My eyes look wistfully to the heights...I am oppressed...

O restore me to health, and let me live...Death cannot praise Thee...

It is the living who give thanks to Thee...A father tells his sons about Thy faithfulness

...the Lord will surely save me...

So we will play my songs (of praise) all the days of my life...

(Isaiah 38)

In Psalm 90 Moses speaks of the morning grass which sprouts anew and flourishes, yet by evening it fades and withers. James assures us of the same truth in James 1:10-11. A thousand years past is like yesterday in God's sight because He is eternal. But not so for us! Our present bodies are ever so temporary – seventy, even eighty-plus years – yet our days are fraught with labor and sorrow and all too soon, as a vapor, we have vanished from our earthly place (James 4:14). Job likened our passing days as being “swifter than a weaver's shuttle” and but a breath when compared to eternity. Unless we are 'in Christ' they come to an end without hope (Job 7:6-7).

Occasionally, something from our ever-enclosing secular world seizes my attention and forces me to contemplate what my flesh by nature prefers to avoid – the reality of the inevitable death of our physical bodies. Few people in this society have not heard the familiar lyrics sung by Tim McGraw.

I was in my early forties...a lot of life before me...when a moment came that stopped me on a dime... spent most of the next days - looking at the x-rays, talking about options and talking about sweet time...I was finally the husband that most the time I wasn't. I became a friend a friend would like to have...I finally read the Good Book and I took a long hard look at what I'd do if if I could do it all again...Like tomorrow was a gift and you had eternity to think about...What would you do with it?

...Sky diving, Rocky Mountain climbing...I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter...I gave forgiveness I'd been denying...I watched an eagle as it was flying. (Hezekiah 'looked wistfully to the heights.) Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.

We are all dying even from our birth. Why do we need to be stopped on a dime with sad and tragic news to be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10) and know what truly matters in life? May our merciful Creator presently teach us to number our days – to recognize the shortness of our time here so that we may present to Him a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12) while we yet live without the shadow of death hovering about us and that we might be able to recognize the pastures of rest for his weary sheep when we need them most (Psalm 23).

“Lord, teach us to number our days that we might live with zeal for you, that we will not only notice but also examine and smell the roses along the path!  And indeed, that we will look to the heights and watch the eagle as he flies with wonder and see all around us all the 'priceless' things in life. Teach us how to glorify You and enjoy You both now and forever, regardless of our present circumstances.”  ~ DLA