Change

September 22, 2018

Autumn is officially here! You wouldn’t have guessed it yesterday; the thermometer registered somewhere in the mid 80s, and I was wringing wet with sweat after unloading fifty cases of apple juice for the Willow mission in Dunkirk. The evening was mild, interrupted by a fierce, but brief thunderstorm. Today feels a bit more seasonal, with temperatures in the mid sixties. We even turned on the gas fireplace tonight. 

The promise of springtime with its endless shades of green as the trees bud and grasses spring from the earth turn to the full bloom of summer with heat waves shimmering in the sun, and finally to the golden glories of the maples and the crimson sumac. In a couple more months, all will be buried beneath the first snowfall while the earth rests as it waits for the lengthening sun to nudge it awake once more.

I wouldn’t want to live where there is no change of the seasons. Don’t get me wrong—about mid-February I’m ready for a week of Florida sunshine, but while Endless Summer may make for a good movie, it’s not my idea of a good life. The weatherman tells us we’ve seen the last of our 80 degree days, that we should expect temperatures in the sixties with cool nights for sleeping. I’ll need to grease the tractor, change the oil in my bike and truck, get wood in, change to winter tires, and get the vehicles undercoated. And pick and process grapes—can’t forget that. In more tropical areas, some of that is completely unnecessary, and the for the rest, there’s no hurry. But we Northerners know there is a time and season for everything, and that tasks put off till the last minute have a way of turning on you, making your life miserable.

We have the rest of September, all of October, and who knows how much of November before it all needs to be done. So I give thanks for this cool September day and for the reminder that change isn’t bad; it’s part of life. But it comes from our God who never changes in his love for us. I’m sure I’ll need to remember that before the year is out.