Favourite Season?

Courtesy: Google Free

Winter's past – Spring has sprung. 

What’s your favourite season of the year? For some Canadians the preference will be for the great awakening of spring, as nature emerges from winter slumber, greening up vegetation all around, drawing people out into frequenting garden centres and labouring in their gardens.

Among sun-lovers are those who can hardly wait for spring air to warm up and summer to breeze in. Many eagerly take the tarps off their boats and check out their rods, reels and tackle boxes, for it’s summertime and the fishin’ is easy (phrase from  Gershwin) , or whatever is their summer pursuit.

Gettin' Ready

 Forget spring and summer – what about winter? Is that your favourite? Energetic, avid winter sports types, with time and money to spare, might eagerly prepare to hit the slopes, waxing their skis and dusting off their roof-rack totes.

Each season comes with certain aspects that I appreciate. However: 

There’s an indefinable something about fall / autumn that captures my heart. 

The season has carved out a special place in my soul. 

Once the greening from chlorophyll is over till the next spring, those autumn leaves reveal the glories of their previously concealed colours. They fall, drifting gently by our windows, to lay a carpet of visual warmth and cheer. 

Nature's Carpet of 'Visual Warmth'

Autumn weather more fully exerts itself as we move further into the season, and we often feel cool-edged breezes and strong winds. Purply dark clouds cavort across energetic, animated skies which, at times, pour out their grapes of wrath, the rain and wind stripping stubborn leaves from branches, overwhelming eavestroughs, while plugged-up downspouts can prove a bane. 

On the other hand, times are when we open our window

Autumn Glory -  although slowly dying!

blinds or drapes to reveal fresh mornings, with frost-tipped lawns and white-tinged roofs, opening into beautiful, sunny days. These seem to say, Enjoy, but prepare, because winter’s on its way! 

Although autumn is for many of us a busy time in community and family activities, it is also a time for introspection; a time to prepare for life’s wintertime; a season for thoughtfully appreciating the simple pleasures and treasures of life. 

Autumn reminds me of my impermanence as a material entity – as a conscious, walking, talking, collection of biologically-coordinated atoms and molecules. In other words I too, like a leaf, will fall and, like the year, my days are numbered – hardly a comforting thought! 

Nevertheless I am comforted, for our Creator God and Father in Heaven has a divine plan – life beyond this life in fellowship with Him: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in [that is, trusts in and relies upon] him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16 NRSV). 

Words of Benediction: May our hearts be wide open this very day to receive the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father, and the fellowship and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Peter is a retired pastor – well, sort of retired – as he is currently engaged as an associate volunteer pastor. He lives in Southwestern Ontario with his wife, May, and writes a weekly inspirational newspaper column and occasional magazine articles. Peter is author of two books: "Parables from the Pond" (Word Alive Press) and "Raise Your Gaze . . . Mindful Musings of a Grateful Heart" (Angel Hope Publishing). He and May are also engaged in leading nursing home / residential chapel services, pulpit supply and music. ~+~

"Silver-Haloed Clouds and a Golden Orb" by Peter A. Black

Publ Domain Photography

The air was cool and the sun bright, although beginning its descent of early evening, during my drive home one day. And the sky, reaching ahead of me towards the horizon in the West, displayed a colourful array of cloud clusters, from deep purplish black to grey, to violet, pink and blue. Many of them were bathed in striking, shimmering silver haloes. 

It was a sight that seemed just right for the crispness of the now cooler weather of fall. And yet, within twenty minutes, before the sun settled below the silhouetted landscape, it had taken on the appearance and visual warmth of a huge golden orb, characteristic of gorgeous Canadian sunsets. 

GoogleFree Italian Holiday

Had the sun really changed its colour? No. Had the clouds changed substance appreciably? Probably not. However, the position of the earth and the clouds had changed in relation to the sun. In practical terms, the earth did the moving, as it does in its daily revolutions and annually in its circuit around the sun, and so, things appeared different. This, of course, makes for the contrast between night and day.

Is that not how it sometimes is between us and THE Sun (God’s Son) of Righteousness?  Sometimes God and Christ may seem cold and distant to us, while at other times we view matters of faith more warmly, sensing that God is closer and Jesus is with us, and that life has a golden touch. 

In our seasons of life, as well as from day to day, may we be kept by the grace of God in proper relation to our Lord and recognize the silver lining of His mercy, when the cool of life’s evening begins to draw near.

On my journey towards home that day I was careful to keep my eyes on the road ahead, even while viewing the glories of the sky above. May we keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus who is the Way – that is, our path – to God, the Truth of God and the Life of God to us. Let us keep our gaze on Him, until we can view our lives and those around us in a kinder, warmer light – bathed in the gold of His grace.  

And, just as I reached home safely that night, may we each arrive safe at the eternal home prepared for us in the heavens (John 14:1-3). God grant us to be included among His faithful ones: “. . . for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall” (Malachi 4:2). The “sun of righteousness” is personified in Jesus, our Lord.

A Prayer:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for the glories of your handiwork written in nature and the skies, and for the parallels to our spiritual lives of which they serve to remind us. Amen. 

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Peter A. Black is a retired pastor – well, sort of retired – and lives in Southwestern Ontario. He writes a weekly inspirational newspaper column, P-Pep! and is author of Raise Your Gaze ... Mindful Musings of a Grateful Heart, and Parables from the Pond – a children's / family book. ~~+~~

The above post was adapted from one of Peter's column articles published in October 2018.  The sunset pictures are courtesy of free online sources.

Late Autumn-Fall -- It's Time (Peter A. Black)

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The Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, Hallowe’en, the American Presidential Election and Remembrance Day 2012 are now behind us – and hopefully, the Atlantic hurricane season, as well. Tens of thousands – perhaps millions – of Eastern Seaboard dwellers might not breathe easy on that score as yet. Thousands still have no permanent dwelling, due to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Sandy and the other stormy onslaught that followed.

 We’re now in the latter portion of the autumn / fall period. Fall fruits are mostly harvested, and in parts of Southwestern Ontario tawny field-corn stands forlorn and dwarfed by drought.

 I consider autumn as a time for reflection, and it’s also a time for us to continue sowing and watering seed of God’s Word and the Gospel – the good news of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Along with that, we sow good seed in deeds of kindness in Jesus’ name. These prepare for a harvest of the Spirit.

 Thoughtful people often take to reflection in their later years. This period of life, commonly likened to autumn and called “the golden years,” conjures up warm sentiments, and rightly so, although some venerable citizens might describe them as “the groanin’ years”!

 I reckon that “autumn” is a nicer word than “fall.” Leaves fall and temperatures drop. An increasing danger for seniors is falling. You’ll have heard the old wheeze or seen the cartoon of an elderly woman who bemoans that by this time of life her chest has fallen into her drawers, or perhaps the one about the old fellow who went about with his shoelaces undone. When asked why, he said that he just steps into his shoes, but when he bends down to tie them it’s too hard to get back up.

Late autumn – when trees shed the last of their leaves till none but the most stubborn remain, and when hoar frost greets us in the mornings, or gusting winds bring chilling rain or sleet, or much more than a dusting of snow – reminds us that winter’s a-comin’! It’s a time to bundle up when going out into the cold, or hunker down to stay inside where it’s warm. It’s always time to read and reminisce, and to pray and give thanks for God’s mercies.

Of course, there are those active 50-plus jet-setters who energetically stride around the neighbourhood, or square dance and jig, engage in sports, or spectate their kids or grandkids playing hockey or some other activity. Perhaps you’re a hunker-downer and prefer most nights to listen to music CDs or view favourite TV programs.

It’s time too, for the aroma of hot apple cider and cinnamon or hot chocolate to fill the house. My Beloved has been getting Christmas baking underway (hmm, smells great!). She’s distributed some already – and there’s church and community functions requiring baked goods, too.

Psalm 90:12-14 (NIV) reads: “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. . . . Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

Whether you call the season fall or autumn, it is a time for counting our days and our blessings, and a time to make our days count by blessing others in word and deed, extended in the name of Jesus, with the love of God in the heart.

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Peter A. Black is a freelance writer in Southwestern Ontario, and author of a children's / family book, "Parables from the Pond." A version of this article will be published in his weekly column in the November 15, 2012 issue of The Guide-Advocate. His articles have appeared in 50 Plus Contact and testimony, and several newspapers in Ontario.