Psalm 146:1-2
“Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.”
I like Autumn and the Harvest festivals very much. I often wonder why? My thinking is that this is one time of the year when our thoughts and prayers turn to thanksgiving to God for those who work the land, the richness of the soil and the right balance of nature’s goodness – thereby, providing a bountiful harvest of crops, grains and flowers. Consequently, the uplifting and joyous hymns and songs that are sung reflect our praise and thanksgiving.
Not wishing to cast a dark cloud over the beauty of harvest but there must be people in our world whose harvests are not plentiful and who will find this season a struggle because without their harvest what do they have to feed their animals and make money to feed their families? Quite often in these situations people praise God even more than those who have plentiful – why you may ask? I believe that is because God may well feature deeper in their crying hearts and thoughts. God is leant on, depended on and in their despair those people will place their lives, livelihoods and hopes for the future on God’s shoulders.
My favourite Autumn flowering bulb is the Bowden Lily. It doesn’t grow and flower instantly – I walk a journey of anticipation with it as its green leaves start to brown and shoots start to form and grow, flower heads then start to form and once these open there are up to six beautiful pink ‘fingers’ separating out. The anticipation doesn’t stop there because the ‘fingers’ don’t all open out together. From each ‘finger’ the plant will gradually reveal to the world their secret, their beautiful unique and individual curly edges. Like us, I don’t think this flower should be in isolation because amongst the others I have a flowing river of pink beautifulness.
I give thanks for the opportunity of sharing God’s Love through the bringing back to life this once dormant bulb. If God can work such wonders through these bulbs just think what He can do through all His creation – including ourselves.
Margaret R McKinnon