In Love with Autumn

Oh, autumn, I am so in love with you!

Every sense responds to your embrace.

The crunch of dry leaves under my feet,

The honk of geese heading south,

The riotous palette of colors,

The tingle of fresh-pressed cider,

The aroma of garden tomatoes simmering into sauce.

You surround me with a coolness that invigorates.

I pull my sweaters out of storage,

Snuggle under the blankets at night.

Savor spicy chili at suppertime.

My mind revs to a higher speed.

I want to think new thoughts.

How many more autumns will I see?

Will twenty be enough?

If I was dying in August,

Would I hang on hoping for one more?

How could I ever leave you, autumn?

Your beauty refreshes my life.

Some associate spring with new life,

Winter with death, and autumn

As winter’s precursor, is depressing.

But I love you, even as bare trees

Are stark against the few remaining

Splashes of color and dark evergreens.

In your lingering days, as you fade,

You slide me gently into other arms.

Thanksgiving brings family.

I rise early to roast the turkey

And see the blaze of sunrise,

Through your barren branches.

By the time you have left me,

I am embraced by the holiday season.

You have slipped away with such stealth,

That your departure is not painful.

But my love for you is never-ending,

And I will welcome your return.

Oh, autumn, I am so in love with you!

The End of Human History

When human history is over, God will be totally justified in how He deals with mankind.  He has given us every opportunity to seek and find Him, and we collectively have failed.

At first, God gave us a set of rigid laws to follow.  The Jews were not only given the Ten Commandments, but many detailed rituals were prescribed.  Although specific punishments were also to be meted out for infractions, and judgments fell for disobedience, man found many creative ways to disobey and attempt to assert his independence from God.  Mankind in general refused to come to God through rules and sacrificial ritual. 

From the beginning of time, however, God knew He would reach out to us in another way, and so, He changed His approach.  Instead of detailed rules, He set forth the law of love.  He demonstrated the change through Christ, who became the ultimate sacrifice.  The sinless One died for our sin, and we entered the age of grace.  God, who knows our hearts, is more interested in our motives than in our specific actions.  But, mankind finds many creative ways to abuse this grace, and we shake our collective fist in the face of God.

God bides His time and watches.  We have refused to come to Him in repentance either through the law or through grace.  He has given the human race both opportunities, and we have persisted in our desire to set ourselves up as our own gods.  We want no sense of responsibility to Him.  Many in our culture even deny His existence.

But, He does have a claim on us.  He did create us and loves each of us uniquely.  He values each of us individually.  We are our brothers’ keepers.  How great must be His grief when we abuse and take advantage of one another.  Human cruelty and hatred knows no bounds, in contrast to God’s boundless love and mercy.

How will any of us be able to stand, when at the end of human history, the Lion roars?