FALL

         Fall lovers see the pumpkin patches and warm drinks, the leaf pile photo ops, and the corn maze fun.  They may balk at the hot summer days or the cold freezy winter commutes, but fall brings them happiness.   I am not a fan of the shorter days of fall and winter.  I have an aversion to darkness when I am not asleep.  It seems the darkness is out of place at six o'clock when there are dogs to walk, friends to visit and rugs to be aired.  With the increased hours of darkness comes the prospect of cold, icy winter days.   The beauty of the  vivid orange and red, and the  brown topped pines is overshadowed by the prospects of icy roads and questions of safety in our daily travel, constant shoveling and layers of socks and coats and mittens  that make getting out the door a real chore.  This is what I see when I look at fall.  I look past the beauty of the color of the leaves to the gloom. 

       But Jesus bids I  live victoriously in the now.   Choosing  gratitude for leafy color and bug free forest walks, can not happen if  I focus on the coming darkness.  Neither can I be grateful in the dark, cold days if I do not see to the eternally sonny days ahead.  Quite a Rubik's cube this balance of here-sight and fore-sight.  But not if I look at Jesus through the dark and cold and here and now. I see through the dark glass of here and now and flesh and sin far too often.  But if I look with His eyes I see the here and now as a tunnel of opportunity built to get us through, to  invite a friend,  to pack our bags with worthy gifts for the land of light at the end. 

    One day, finally,  in that place and in that time I will see the beautiful color of fall, the sunshine of summer and the Father of all the light, without looking through the darkness. In that eternal season  I imagine singing and dancing for the joy of seeing and living in His sight as I  sit on our heavenly porch chatting and praising with sisters and angels.  The colors will be vivid, the friends and gifts brought through, precious, and the world beautifully recreated with pumpkin patch and harvest stalks.  But mostly I look forward to sipping warm drink and rocking with Jesus, no sinful habit, no ungrateful thought or fleshly war between us, just awe,  friendship and love.

   The challenge now is to see the darkness as a quality of the glass through which I now look, to be replaced finally with clear, focused  face to face.   And for a time I can clear the cobweb of sin from my thinking and look  beyond the  growing seasonal darkness, for it is only an evidence of the truth of dark glass and poor vision since Adam's time.  And if that  gloomy truth is verified so is the face to face that comes after.  And I am given clarity and hope from here-sight and foresight.   I can dread the darkness and winter while being grateful for the message of coming, eternal, presence in the always and forever time of light .  

1 Corinthians 13:

¹² For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Fall 2014