Ecclesiastes 3:1: “To every-thing there
is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”
Someone once said, “If winter is slumber
and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds
out to be reflection.”
I love the fall. It is a time of reflection, a time to
start again, a time where we just naturally want to get
back into a routine after all the “freedoms”
of summer. It truly is a time of new beginnings because
in God’s calendar, the beginning of autumn is the
New Year. The Hebrew New Year was September 23 –
Rosh Hashanah. Jewish tradition says that Rosh Hashanah
was day one of the creation of man – the day of
the beginning of creation. Rosh Hashanah is meant to celebrate
something brand new, something fresh and pure, a day and
a place where there is no past, only the present and future.
The month leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the month of Elul
in the Jewish calendar, was a time when traditionally
the Jewish people “Return to Hashem” or “Reflect
and Repent.”
Over the years in the English language we have substituted
the word “fall” for autumn, probably because
after the leaves change color, they fall from the tree.
The meaning of the word “fall” is “to
drop, as with force or with gravity”.
I felt the Lord was saying that this is a time to let
“change” and let “fall”, (as
the leaves do) anything in our life, good or bad, that
will keep us from entering into this next season of
God’s plans for us. It is a time to purpose in
our heart that we are going to step into what God has.
That means letting go of some things and stepping out
in obedience to others. When we reflect and repent,
when we surrender to our Lord every area of our life,
we can experience Rosh Hashanah as a time of celebration
and joy – a day of starting new because we know
that our sins are covered in the blood of Jesus. We
are “past-less” beings because we have surrendered
it all to Jesus. We are ready for what is coming in
the New Year. This is what God intended for us.
In a devotional I received from Israel, someone shared,
“Lofty aspirations usually fail not
from a lack of will but from a lack of method. To grow
in holiness, and indeed, to grow in any arena of living,
requires a plan, not just a desire. Rosh Hashanah is
the day to conceive of a plan; to envision and embrace
a future in which we will take an active, disciplined
and committed part in the Almighty’s supreme kingdom
in the coming year.” I want to encourage
you to remove yourself from any past limitations, and
purpose to make a plan that will challenge you to grow.
I think sometimes when we think of fall, we typically
think of the flowers dying, the cold weather, the barrenness,
and everything looking dead and desolate. We know that
beyond the beauty of the autumn trees, winter is coming.
Granted, there is a period of time when things look
pretty dreary during those winter months, but the “barrenness”
that comes after the beauty of the leaves changing color
and falling from the trees doesn’t mean “death”,
it means “hibernation”. That word “hibernation”
means to pass the winter in a “resting state”.
It reminds me of the scripture that says, “Unless
a grain of wheat (seed) falls to the ground and die,
it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”
I believe God is saying to us “In this season,
let things fall that need to fall. Don’t become
discouraged or disappointed in the winter months when
you don’t ‘see’ anything happening.
Rest in Me, because below the surface that seed is being
processed. Spring is coming and the “new”
will burst forth with beauty and vibrancy, color and
joy. All the things I have for you will blossom before
your eyes.”
As we step into this new season, let it be a time
of reflection and repentance. Let it be a time to “rest”
in God and let Him complete in us the work He has started.
As we see the leaves falling from the tree and we sense
“change” in the air, know it is a time of
shifting and change. In many cases, God is changing
the very structure of things as we know them. Change
can rock the very core of our being but change is good,
especially when it is God-change!
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider
the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now
it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will
even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the
desert.” Isaiah 43:18-19
...........................Fall
2006