Unfinished Work

     I had the joy of raking leaves today. It is something that I actually enjoy doing. I find it invigorating to be outside in the fall air and always feel accomplished when all the leaves have been raked into a big pile. This was also a way I earned Christmas money when I was little so it always brings back good memories.....although I don't get paid for raking the leaves anymore! 
    Once I had finished the back yard, I stopped to enjoy the refreshing breeze that had floated my way and was listening to the rustle of the leaves, when I decided to look at the tree whose leaves I had just finished picking up off the ground. I watched as leaf after leaf began to fall with the breeze, dancing there way to the ground. This work is never done!
With that thought, I was hit with the reminder that God's work is never done while we remain on this earth. He is constantly moving, working around us and hopefully through us. In a few days there will be more leaves that will need to be raked into existence and picked up. Like those leaves, God is continually working to touch the lives of people with His love.  Just when I think I have accomplished something in His name or a nugget of truth has been revealed to me; He has new truth to speak into my life and more work that needs to be done for His kingdom. My service for the Lord is not complete until He takes me home.

Fall Anyone?

     We love the season of Fall. It is the time when leaves on the trees turn the most brilliant shades of reds and oranges. We love that it is time to put on a sweatshirt and some jeans as the cool breezes start to roll in. We were talking about the things that make fall, fall to us individually.

   I (Tim) always associate Fall weather with soup. When things started getting chilly, I would greatly look forward to seeing the big, silver soup pot come out on the stove; knowing that within a few hours a simmering concoction of yummy veggies, grains, and tender meat would be piping hot and ready for my bowl. There is something so comforting about having the smell of soup wafting through my home that makes me feel at peace. 

   Fall also makes me think of all the hours I spent as a child in my neighbors backyard, picking up walnuts that I could sell to pay for Christmas presents. It reminds me of how tiresome hard work can be, but also of the joys of the payoff; when I would see the smiles on my families faces as they unwrapped presents on Dec 25th, knowing that I had earned every cent that went into getting them that gift. In this light, one can't help but think about how God works in our lives. Often it seems that the times of hard work never end, that He is continually allowing us to struggle to accomplish something through Him. Yet when the payoff comes, when we finally see what work He is doing in and through us, when we have that "ah-hah" moment or see how we've been able to bless someone else through the work of knowing God more intimately it all becomes so very worth it.

   For myself, Stacy, Fall usually means a change in scenery in the living room as my mom would rearrange all the furniture and it would look like a completely different room. I am reminded of Fall when candles have been lit in the early morning or evening, creating the most relaxing and peaceful environment and providing a new yummy smell like pumpkin spice. Another piece of the season for me is listening to George Winston's Piano solos. They are fluid notes at its finest and combined with candles I feel at home. Lastly, when I think of the Fall season I think of homemade applesauce with lots of cinnamon smelling up the house and becoming the special treat for the next few days. Those are things that make up my Fall season and they are traditions that I now carry on into my own home.

     With the Fall season there is a lot of change that we can see and observe and paralleling that with our own lives we find ourselves in a season of change. We have a change in our home-town, change in our surroundings, change in jobs, change in developing new friendships, and change in finding a new church home. Change is usually accompanied with a level of uncomfortableness or sometimes even pain. The trees are beautiful as their leaves change colors, but as they fall the trees look bare and cold. Without that beautiful and cold transition, they cannot be ready for the new changes up ahead. The new life that comes out of the old being shed, new green leaves that emerge when the time is right and a fresh, alive tree is re-born. That is where I find myself, in the midst of change that sometimes feels beautiful and sometimes feels very cold. But I know that seasons come and go and as they do new life will be felt again.