The seasons change

This morning we picked pears, saving about a bushel of the larger ones. The tree was just loaded: so loaded, in fact, that most were tiny, and I just can't see bothering with them. Then, while Dave went to a fall work day at church, I worked on finishing the last of the apples, making about 8 quarts of applesauce, and another 5 quarts or so of apple butter, and saving a few of the best for pies. The fresh fall air is wafting in, the sun shining in the brilliant blue sky, the leaves gone from the ash tree, and a brilliant mixture of colors on pear tree. I love fall, and I love to notice the changing seasons of the year.

Yesterday, we went to the memorial service of a friend. A fellow homeschooler here in town, she died at age 50 after battling lung cancer for two years. Her eight children range in age from 24 down to 7. And the love for her which her dear husband of 25 years holds was palpable and strong. For that family, the seasons of their lives have just changed unalterably. And our lives change, too, as we are reminded of the passage of time. The funerals now are not only of the parents of friends, but of friends and their children.

Sometimes this way of thinking can tempt me to depsair. But that's when I have to focus on God's amazing goodness and gentleness in the midst of these changing seasons. I found this evening's Spurgeon podcast to be a great reminder in the midst of the changing seasons of my life...

"He shall gather the lambs with His arm."
--Isaiah 40:11

Our good Shepherd has in His flock a variety of experiences, some are strong in the Lord, and others are weak in faith, but He is impartial in His care for all His sheep, and the weakest lamb is as dear to Him as the most advanced of the flock. Lambs are wont to lag behind, prone to wander, and apt to grow weary, but from all the danger of these infirmities the Shepherd protects them with His arm of power. He finds new-born souls, like young lambs, ready to perish--He nourishes them till life becomes vigorous; He finds weak minds ready to faint and die--He consoles them and renews their strength. All the little ones He gathers, for it is not the will of our heavenly Father that one of them should perish. What a quick eye He must have to see them all! What a tender heart to care for them all! What a far- reaching and potent arm, to gather them all! In His lifetime on earth He was a great gatherer of the weaker sort, and now that He dwells in heaven, His loving heart yearns towards the meek and contrite, the timid and feeble, the fearful and fainting here below. How gently did He gather me to Himself, to His truth, to His blood, to His love, to His church! With what effectual grace did He compel me to come to Himself! Since my first conversion, how frequently has He restored me from my wanderings, and once again folded me within the circle of His everlasting arm! The best of all is, that He does it all Himself personally, not delegating the task of love, but condescending Himself to rescue and preserve His most unworthy servant. How shall I love Him enough or serve Him worthily? I would fain make His name great unto the ends of the earth, but what can my feebleness do for Him? Great Shepherd, add to Thy mercies this one other, a heart to love Thee more truly as I ought.
~C. H. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, October 17