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)