I Love Fall!!!!! This is my favorite season of the year. Warm days and cool nights, cinnamon apple smells warm coffee, sweaters, and football. Ummmm, Fall. ‘Tis the season we are currently enjoying.
As I have been transitioning to this new season, I have seen many interesting things that have stirred my thoughts lately. God winks if you will.
Just the other day, in the backyard, throwing the tennis ball with Bailey and Bella, I noticed this tree in our backyard.
Our backyard is lined with small trees, and this one certain tree was the first to produce little acorns this year. Not the tree you would have expected. It seems to be the smallest and has two small trunks, not one strong one. The squirrels have been busy at that tree. Ohhhh, the harvest for them has been great! They have been so busy putting away food for the Winter. That little tree. It had the first fruit, it got the first attention, and it was the first to shed the first mess in the yard!! Oh how messy they have been!!! It has been a blessing to watch the other trees produce fruit and then get noticed by the squirrels as well. They now jump from tree to tree, busy all day.
Those little oak trees taught me so much about seasons and relationships this year. You know, it was that first one to get noticed, the one with the first fruits, that ended up being the messiest of all! Sometimes we are attracted to the most sparkly, the first, the most productive, the most successful and we just turn our eyes away from the others. Kinda like the wealthy men giving their offering abundantly for show more or less, wanting all to see how they were giving, versus the little old lady that only had a little to give but gave her all, with all her heart. You kind find this story in Mark Chapter 13. Is that how we give? Is that how we treat others? Do we favor those who have the most, do the most, first in line? Do we look at those that seem to have it all together and wish we had it like them, to then only find that they really have messes too? Something to think about.
On the flip side, being first and at the front can be messy and cause us to be left behind with the mess, even when we did not choose it. Even when it is just the way things happened, even when we didn’t ask for it, and all of a sudden things are going well, then we realize that the pressure of keeping it all together is too much, and then comes our reaction. It is our reaction that makes the difference. Do we realize how thankful we are that we received the blessing at all, or are we focused on the mess we have to deal with while all the others are celebrating and being noticed? Do we get lost in the loneliness when the other trees are noticed and the squirrels leave us to go and hang out with them, while there we are with the mess all around on the ground? Alone. Messy. Blessed. Thankful? Joyful for others? Philippians 4:6. In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving……let our requests be made known to God.
There are so many seasons in life that these thoughts can apply to, so here is my take away. Don’t overlook the blessings and celebrate with others, no matter the timing. We may be first or we may be last, we may produce well or we may not have such a great harvest in this season. Either way, we should be thankful in all things. When our “mess” is on the ground all around us like that little tree, we must still rejoice and praise Him! We just worked through a study on anxiety and one of the verses we studied was Philippians 4:6, and as I have walked under those trees so many times lately, I have pondered this scripture: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
No matter what season you are in, seek God and praise Him for all your blessings. No matter what is going on around you in the lives of others, praise Him for where you are and what He is showing you in this season. No matter how messy, no matter how fruitful, no matter how noticeable, praise Him for it all! Enjoy those squirrels when they come to visit and rejoice with others when it is their time to be visited.
So, wrap up in that blanket on the porch with your Bible and a cup of coffee, enjoy this weather and season, cheer for a football game soon, and thank God for giving us yet another day to celebrate Him and all that He does for us. Oh, and enjoy those little squirrels. They can teach us so much!!!
Leave a Reply