Overwhelming, take your breath away, beauty on my walk in Oxford this week.
Autumn is my favorite season of the year.
The chill crisp air washed with the golden light beams smiles at my child heart that still hopes for excitement and possibility in my days. The vibrantly painted leaves wrap a love song around my heart and whisper of His playful invitation to find Him while he dances about in the light and shadows of my late afternoon walks.
As I breathe in the beauty and take time to look and hear, signposts of life are surrounding me everywhere. The leaves that were so green and flourishing a few weeks ago, are now drying and falling to the ground to make room for another year, another harvest in the future. The changing weather whispers, “change is coming, your days are shorter than they used to be.” With each leaf swirling delicately toward the ground, are reminders that we all have limitations to the story we live in life, I see the autumn more clearly than ever before.
You will not have this season ever again to invest in, to pour out your life, to store up wisdom, to patiently serve others. This is the message of fall, time passes.
My life is changing and I must recognize the way that time marches on.
I don't have as much time left to invest love, kingdom messages, and worship of God as I used to have--
My children are grown and I cannot take them into my lap, tell them a bedtime story or have them come to me for all their needs, questions or decisions.
We are very close, best of friends, by God's grace. but now, they help me, counsel me. I wait for their calls--they do not do my bidding anymore, they make their own choices of how to invest their time, love and messages.
What a season of delight to have had my home full of giggles, discoveries, while I was the centerpiece of life. What a gift to be a mother and to embrace the season of raising my children, who are now the best work of my whole life.
With all seasons, God speaks to us through nature and His own visual art. In splendid glory and bursting color, autumn teaches us that life is always changing. Life and this season right now, is about to change. Life passes quickly and the autumn of any part of our lives reminds us that one more year, journey, season is about to pass. Another season is gusting and whirling quickly forward to blow away the leaves and to bring the stark reality of another season, its own beauty and its own limitations.
We will never have this year, this day, this moment in which to invest again—it will be fleeting and over, as one autumn marks another year soon to be past.
The beauty of the dry, dying leaves reminds us that the glory of the season is almost gone, and so we must do our best to cherish the days if we are to be wise.
Today is the day in which I may pour out love by writing a note, making a call, serving a cup of tea, praying for one I love. Perhaps this is the day I might bring inspiration, Serving and touching hearts, Pointing in this moment of glory, the divine creator. Teaching what is true and right and good, Modeling faith, forgiveness, mercy and unconditional love.
The ministry of motherhood must be personal—back rubs, giggles, eyes really seeing into the face and soul of the one being listened to, words of affirmation and trust, and prayers before the throne of God diligently whispered from a heart that knows only He can create the life of Christ inside the very ones I serve…
May we understand, computers and social media waste so much time, cell phones can rob us of the facial expression, the hand held, the warm embrace or moment together watching the sunset; and chores are never more important than those they serve. Frenzied activity sucks up time and steals light and life from the real, right in front of us, little one needing the planting of love, and faith, hope and truth.
A real little human being requires the nourishment of real love poured out daily, gentleness served up with a willing heart and the attentiveness of an adult who is willing to serve. These little ones must have our healthy gift of love, time and patience, as a flower needs real water, and sunshine over and over again if it is going to bloom to its fullest potential, so those in our lives need the sunshine of our words of blessing and the water of our coming along side them day after day.
I think I will find some way today to encourage my own precious ones—a phone call, an email, a message to lift them up today.When this day is past, I must hope that I have used it well and invested wisely because I will never have it to live over again, and soon, very soon, the autumn of motherhood will remind us, that this season of planting and harvesting is almost over.
I wish you blessings of wisdom as you measure your minutes and days,
Grace as you choose what will last for eternity in the minds and hearts of those who will carry you with them in their hearts the rest of their lives.
Today, I am praying for you, because this day, this season, matters so much.
Take time to notice the miraculous, to hear the music, to dance to the joy that today might bring and to rest in the endless love of one who is preparing a feast for us in the not too distant future.
