Rob Witham

Fall is in the air where I live. The days are still warm but the nights are cooling and leaves are beginning to change and drop from the trees. The winds of change are beginning to blow. I debated for many years as to my favorite season. Living in the northeast we experience four fully distinct seasons - each with enjoyable and not-so-enjoyable parts. I used to vacillate between autumn and spring as my two favorite seasons but I have finally decided that I like autumn best of all. Spring brings the promise of green and new life - but it also brings the promise of bugs and allergies… Ugh!

My waking thoughts this morning centered around a parallel between changing seasons in nature and in life. I’m not sure whether the Spirit was moving or if I ate too much of my homemade salsa sauce last night. (OK, we won’t go there. Some things are better left alone!) In any event, I awoke to thoughts of seasons and rhythms in life.

We westerners have a habit of largely ignoring things like seasons and rhythms. We are so accustomed to an industrialized, mechanized, always-on lifestyle that we don’t even notice when the winds of change are blowing around us.

I think we may also have a habit of ignoring the seasons of life. God gave Israel carefully crafted holidays, feasts, festivals, memorials and sabbaths to mark seasons. Not only did these rhythms of life mark seasons but they also served to remind God’s people not to forget their God in the busyness of life.

• How many of us have never gone Sunday to Sunday without a serious spiritual experience?
• How many of us have never gone days, or even weeks, without any serious prayer time with God?
• How many of us have never forgotten the Almighty in the busyness of our lives?

Seasons and rhythms are a God-given part of life. Let’s be careful to allow these things to mark our passage and point us back to our Creator God.

What are some practical ways we can use seasons and rhythms to remind us of God?