Source for this image here.
We had the first frost of the autumn today - when Papa Bear and I walked through the park to the spot where he picks up his lift to work, the fallen leaves on the ground were dusted with it, and the tips of the grass on either side of the path were white too. It was very pretty! It also made me realise that it is not long now before winter arrives - and Christmas! Soon it will be cold enough to think about pulling out all our warm knitwear and thicker coats! How quickly we seem to have moved from summer sunshine to autumn frosts - but it's a welcome change. I love the cold weather and all the opportunities to be cosy that it brings!
Here is a poem that I found called "Autumn Frost" ...
The morning sun shows like a pillar
Of fire through smoke on frosty days.
As on a faulty snap, it cannot
Make out my features in the haze.
The distant trees will hardly see me
Until the sun at last can break
Out of the fog, and flash triumphant
Upon the meadows by the lake.
A passer-by in mist receding
Is recognized when he has passed.
You walk on hoarfrost-covered pathways
As though on mats of plaited bast.
The frost is covered up in gooseflesh,
The air is false like painted cheeks,
The earth is shivering, and sick of
Breathing potato-stalks for weeks.
Boris Pasternak
Isn't it incredible to see the wonder of God's creation in nature? As the cycle of the seasons continues to turn through its constant process of growth, abundance, decay and renewal, so do we humans also live through our own seasons - just as the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us:-
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace". (Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 8).
Whatever season of life we are in just now, we can get assurance from knowing that it is part of God's plan for us, and that, just as the seasons of nature do, it is a transient time - and whether it is a season for abundance or for scarcity, that time will end, and we will be brought to a new season, as the cycle of life keeps turning.
