Autumn

This autumn has me thinking about the stage of life I am in, which could only be considered "autumn". As a middle-aged woman I know that I have already lived more than half my life, and that is a strange feeling. For so many years you feel as though you are looking into the future and then suddenly, the future is a bit more uncertain. Children leave home, friends get sick, parents die - life changes when you get older, and the things that are important to us change as well. Family and friends demand more attention because we realize that at the end of the day they are the things that really matter, not how much money we made or how important we were. "Things" seem to drop away in our list of priorities and people suddenly come to the fore.

The Bible teaches us this lesson over and over again if we care to see it. We are told that only the things of heaven are important and the things of earth will fall away. We are taught to take care of each other and not worry so much about ourselves or the things we are able to accumulate. We are advised to pay more attention to our souls and less attention to our possessions.

As young people it is hard to understand those lessons but as older ones we see the wisdom of what God tries to teach us. It's frustrating to try to pass those lessons on to our children and grandchildren because we know that, just like we once were, they are only looking forward. If only we could share our perspective.

God's lessons are timeless and true. We all need to heed them more fully. At least I know I do.