Signs of the Seasons

I love Autumn. I love the mild, sunny days, the chill of the mornings and evenings, the smell of smoke drifting across, but most of all the changing trees. The colours of the leaves against the deep blue of the sky, or with the sun shining through making them even more vibrant floods my soul with joy and peace. And the way the leaves float lazily to the ground or fall in a flurry, like rain, with a gust of the breeze fills me with wonder. I find myself amazed by this whole process of the trees losing their leaves.


I have heard a number of scientific explanations, such as the fact that the leaves don't actually fall off, but are pushed off by next Spring's leaf buds. (This is how you know when a tree is dead as the leaves die but don't fall off.) Another explanation is regarding the sensitivity of the trees to the subtle changes in the weather, shorter days and cooler temperatures, that we as humans are largely unaware of or remain unaffected by.


Thinking about this I find myself reflecting again on the parallels between the natural world and the spiritual world. I am reminded of a couple of places in the Bible where Jesus also draws this parallel. In Matt 24:32, He says' "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near." And in Matt 16:2-3, He rebukes the religious leaders looking for a sign, saying, 'When evening comes, you say, "It will be fair weather, for the sky is red", and in the morning, "Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast."' He goes on to reprimand them that they have no problems working with the 'natural', but when it comes to the spiritual they, who are supposedly the experts in such matters, have no understanding.


When Jesus talks to His disciples in Matthew 24 about the signs they should expect in the 'end times', there is a sense of comfort rather than condemnation. I think that in our 'natural' state, we can tend to get fearful about what will happen in these times, rather than simply being informed. Something I read this morning triggered the thought that when we worry and fear our circumstances, the things happening to us and around us, we are actually behaving in a way that is not trusting God. Trusting Him is not something that is automatic, or our natural bent. We have to work at it in the little things - like a muscle, trust gets stronger and grows as we use it. It also comes from relationship. We will struggle to trust those we do not know well.


Being informed also involves deepening our relationship with God. We need to practice hearing in the Spirit, spending time listening to God and asking the right questions, so that like the trees, we increase in our sensitivity to the signs of the times, we recognise the changing spiritual seasons. We then need to place those signs in the right context of our Biblical understanding, so we are not afraid but informed. The signs are not there to bring judgement or condemnation on us, but to help us to live with the changes as they happen. Just as Autumn, in the natural, is a sign to prepare for the hardships of winter, stocking up, harvesting, preparing a warm cosy place, so are the signs we see in the spiritual world there to help us be prepared, like the wise virgins of Matt 25.