Seasons of the Heart: Fall
I love living out in the country and driving on peacefully canopied winding roads as I make my way to noisy shopping centers surrounded by traffic-filled streets. I breathe slowly and take in all the beauty of the season. Today, it’s late-October. The air is fresh and crisp as an apple, out-done only by the bright blue North Carolina sky. Golden-orange maple leaves break away from the branches that have sustained them since spring, whimsically dancing through the air until they eventually land on the ground.
As I witness the effects of the silent earth-turning, I’m reminded of everything this season is known for: harvest, reaping, gathering, and thanksgiving. The Fall season of the heart is very similar in so many ways. It’s a time of joyous expectation. The seeds we planted in the spring and tended during the summer have grown into fully developed crops. The harvest is full and it’s time to reap what we’ve sown. We gather up all the goodness God has sent our way as our hearts overflow with thanksgiving, reminding us that we grow what we sow. It begs us to ask the question, what kind of seeds are we sowing?
Seeds of anger, hurt, bitterness, deceit, and victimhood rarely turn into sustainable fields of life-giving crops. These are fields that produce no fruit what-so-ever. The sower ends up empty handed, barren in soul and desperate in heart. Generosity has become overgrown by greed, as any form of delayed gratification has been replaced by uncontrolled impulses that cater to satisfying feelings and emotions. Those who sow for their own pleasure will have nothing left, only empty fields.
But Jesus offers us a better way. He offers seeds that are life-giving and filled with hope. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:9). Fall is for finding joy in reaping the seeds of the soul and for storing up what’s been gathered.
For those who have sown seeds of love, compassion, and caring, their harvest is full of meaningful relationships. They’ve weathered storms and sought hard after peace. In humility, the sowers of relational seeds lay down their lives for others and love them first and foremost. They spur one another on towards love and good works. They use words such as, “Tell me more.” “Help me understand.” “I forgive you.” For the sake of the relationship, they give up the right to be right. They are quick to listen and slow to anger, resulting in a harvest abundant with friends and family.
For those who have sown seeds of spiritual disciplines, their harvest is ripe with personal transformation that resembles the image of the loving God by Whom they were created. With open hands and listening ears they hunger and thirst for an encounter with the Holy. They ask God to awaken their hearts to His presence in their everyday lives. They do not hesitate to enter into the mystery as they abandon themselves to their Heavenly Father. The morning speaks of His unfailing love as they trust Him more and more. For the sowers of seeds of spiritual disciplines, their harvest is a life deeply established and grounded in Christ.
For those who sow seeds of time, talents, and resources with generosity, their harvest is indeed, a harvest of plenty. They’ve learned the secret: prosperity is not measured by how much they have, but rather, how much they give. The more they give away, the more they are filled. Generosity is good for the soul and makes us more like Jesus. Givers look for opportunities to give in abundance and delight in being generous.
Fall of the heart is for reaping, gathering, feasting and most importantly, thanksgiving. Sing praises to the Holy One. Shout it from the mountaintops. Gather with friends and family around long tables filled with vases of flowers and flickering candles. And food. Lots of food.
It’s Fall. And Fall is a very good season of the heart.
What About You?
1. What are your favorite things about this season?
2. Describe the connection between the type of seeds we sow and the crops they produce.
3. Which type of harvest is the most meaning to you? Explain why.
4. What type of seeds would you like to sow more of in the year ahead?
5. Ask God to help you be more intentional to sow these seeds.
