If you have been to Grace-Lindale in the last few weeks you will notice pumpkins scattered about in the commons. Fall is here and we LOVE it. I’m sure there are people out there who don’t like fall. Those people who prefer endless heat, sweat, and sunburns but I’m not one of those people.
I live for the days of sweaters, scarves, cozy socks, hot lattes that taste like pumpkin, and shorter days. It is true that at the time I’m writing this it isn’t technically fall but it is September and I am wearing Christmas socks, leggings, and a sweatshirt in a naturally lit room so it is extra cozy. Basically, it’s fall. I will fight anyone who disagrees ( I won’t actually…well, I might).
I just wanted to take a short moment with this blog to celebrate seasons and the one who came up with them. God is so creative and the master designer. He knows just what we need and why we need it. And we need seasons. Not only do we need seasons but they are actually a model for our lives. The rest we need, the times when we are most productive, when we should slow down, we should embrace the season when we feel like nothing is happening and everything is buried under ice and snow.
Think about it, we are going into fall. A season when harvesting what was planted in the spring is coming to an end. Leaves are falling so the trees can rest, animals are preparing for hibernation, and the sun sets earlier and earlier. It is a time to slow down. To put an end to the hard labor of Spring and Summer.
Winter is a time of dormancy and hibernation. Even the most productive trees and plants completely stop what they are doing and rest. We hunker down, get cozy, and give ourselves a moment to breathe and just be. God designed it that way. We aren’t supposed to go non-stop and wear ourselves out. The trees and plants don’t and God loves us way more so why wouldn’t he want us to have rest too?
After winter comes spring. When maybe we thought all was dead and lost, that there wouldn’t be life or hope again, here comes the sun, the green sprouts, the flowers, the signs of new life that was growing and waiting all the time. They needed the winter to rest so they could come back stronger. So do we. God designed us to work, to produce, to live a life that points to him. To do that, we have to have seasons of rest so the Spring can come.
And then of course comes Summer. The heat, the harvest, the hard work. We can’t sustain the work we need to do in the Summer if we don’t honor the rest that comes with the other seasons. The slowness, the relying on God to do what he needs to even when we see nothing happening.
So as we welcome fall, I want to give you a challenge. Take something off of your calendar. One thing that you can step away from so you can start to enter into a time of slowness and rest. Tell me in the comments what you chose to remove from your agenda this fall.
Listen here!
Are you looking for a community or someone to grab coffee with who is in a similar life season? We’d love to connect with you and get to know you better! Below you will find a few people that can’t wait to meet you, shoot us an email so we can make a plan!
Tyler OJ Campus
Teresa Ator: teresaa@gcc.org
Bethanie Tayler: bethaniet@gcc.org
Tyler UB Campus
Max Heller: maxh@gcc.org
Marthe Durosier marthed@gcc.org
Lindale Campus
Molly Pontius: mollyp@gcc.org
Debra Kirby: debra@gcc.org
