#219 "Fall Into Rest"

Green chlorophyll stands aside to make way for yellow, orange, and red, as the hum of food-making grows silent. Nature falls into autumn. The trees will rest.

I used to view the fall season in terms of death and dying. I even wrote from that perspective on this very blog. ("Beauty in the Dying") This year is different somehow. The wind dances  through the half-barren branches and whispers something new as she goes. "Rest", she says. "Rest." 


No word could be sweeter to my weary than that word...rest. The last few months were anything but that. I spent three months writing and self-publishing my e-book. September was spent preparing to speak to a group of precious women about the Living Water that is our Christ. Just over a week ago, my daughter married the man of her dreams, and we watched our 3 year old granddaughter for 5 days while they honeymooned. All along I kept saying, "if I can just get through these four things....then I can rest." I've gotten through. I've come out on the other side. 

Weary. Tired. Empty. Physically. Emotionally. Spiritually. 

God's creation declares that it is autumn, and it's not about dying...it's about rest.

As leaves become crunchy carpeting under my feet, I think a lot about what parallels there are between autumn and my need for rest. God has ordained the seasons for their specific purposes. "There is a season for every activity under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Not only are seasons ordained in nature, but God ordains the times and seasons of our lives as well.

The Bible frequently mentions the "early rain", signifying the rain of the autumn. From May to October, no rain fell and the land became dry, parched and brown. The people patiently and expectantly looked for the autumn rains to come and prepare the earth for reception of the seed, and to revive the parched and thirsty soil. 

My parched and thirsty soul needs the autumn rain to prepare my heart to receive the Seed.

Rest is the rain that will fill this empty vessel so that I can give out again. 

Leaves fall. 

Flowers cut down and dormant. 

Production ceases. 

The land rests.

In autumn's soul rest, I can cease from striving to produce.

I can quietly receive and lay down the frantic of giving out. 

Holy Spirit rain falls afresh.

The harsh winds of winter will come soon enough. Rest only lasts long enough for one to get refilled. I want to give. I want to produce. I want to stand with face like flint against the winter blasts that will surely come my way. They always do. 

But for such a time as this, I will...

...sit across the morning table from Jesus, and have discussion about His Word, before the rising of the sun. I will light more candles. I will make my home. I will cozy up in soft blankets when night falls and the lamps are lit. I will read good books that encourage me to do greater things in the name of Jesus. I will linger long in His presence and talk to Him about everything. I will take naps and use my slow cooker more often. I will choose joy and live thankful for everything. I will rest. I will rest. I will rest. It doesn't come naturally but it becomes a necessity.    

I wait like the husbandman with longing to receive the Holy Spirit rain that will revive my parched and thirsty soul. I wait for autumn's refreshment, restoration and renewal, so that I may produce once again. 

Because rest only lasts long enough for one to get refilled.

"Behold congenial Autumn comes,
the Sabbath of the Year."
-  John Logan