Seasons of Light and Miracles: Hope in the Fall

“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons”-Jim Bishop

Jeremiah 5:24 “Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in this season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest he gives the rain in its season the autumn rain and the spring rain.”

Psalms 102:11 “My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.”

There is hard work in the harvest of Fall. These verses describe autumn as a mirror similar to the season of brightest miracles, spring. And yet, fall is soon headed into the darkest time, winter. The rain brings life in spring, and the rain removes the old to let go of what needs to be left behind in fall, giving room for future light and growth. It is as if there is a removing that happens with the rain in the Fall, giving more color and light in different ways in each season, leading to different periods of growth.

Psalms describes the darkening that happens in the fall, but it is not the night of winter yet. The skies are darker in fall with less sun, and the leaves’ colors fade, but are replaced with the deepening of purples, reds, and yellows. Psalms describes the death of grass that happens in the fall. As we go through difficult times, we let go of the things we do not need, which allows space for the deepening and refinement to unfold. Fall and winter are the hardest times described biblically, and yet it is those seasons that allow for the biggest rewards in spring to occur.