Summer is over and Autumn is upon us.
As the trees and hedgerows prepare for the coming winter, we are seeing the leaves turn to vibrant reds, browns and orange. Fruits are ripening. Seeds blown in the wind, spreading their bountiful supply of seeds to sustain life. All are signs of the hope that lies ahead, as the natural world stores up food, to sustain it through the winter months and prepare for a new awakening in the spring. The natural world, yet again investing in the future.We are also reminded that Autumn is a time when the educational system springs back into life. Children are now settled in their new classes and students returning to colleges and universities. Again, preparations for, and an investment in, what lies ahead.
We see that same theme of “investing in the future”, in hymns and songs we sing in our church services. Perhaps the most memorable of these being, “We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the land but it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand”. All a sign God at work in our lives and pointing us to a brighter future ahead.
The Sunday Bible passages we reflect on each week tell us about a society very different to our own, but with similar physical and spiritual challenges to the ones that we face today.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ teaching to his followers encourages us when he says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matt 6v19-20).
How true those words are for us. As we observe the vibrant colours of Autumn and the natural world in all its glories, may Jesus’ words encourage us, that one day we will see the magnificence of heaven and the treasures that await us, as we journey on to spend eternity with our creator. What a thrilling future lies ahead.
