Musings – September 2025
Autumn Arrives … Autumn Leaves!?
As Autumn kicks in, it makes me reflect on the changes it brings and the cycle of the seasons. The annual pattern of nature can teach us a lot. It also makes me look ahead as planning for a certain mid-winter festival starts in earnest.
Autumn is the season of getting ready. Ready for what is to come. Ensuring that we have the resources needed to cope with the lean times. Whilst the modern world is not so tied to the seasonal availability of fruit and veg, the darkening evenings and changing weather still impact our physical and mental health.
Jams and preserves are bubbling, vegetables are canned and frozen, logs are split and stockpiled.
Why?
Simply put it is about being ready. Ready for anything. Ready for the unforeseen and the unplanned. Not in an apocalyptic survivalist way but in a basic make-it-through-the-winter way. Summer’s harvest is prepared and stored away, giving some semblance of certainty to provisions once 2026 starts.
So what does being ready look like? Colourful jars of jams, chutneys, preserves on a shelf? Freezers groaning with fruit, vegetables, meat? So our diet is assured.
What about other aspects of life? Physical health, mental health, and spiritual health? Do we pay the same attention to those?
The main feature of Autumn is the changing colours of the leaves in the trees. And that can tell us a lot. The trees withdraw nutrients from the leaves and send them back to their roots, to be saved for next spring. Energy is stored below ground, waiting for the demand of new growth. The branches look naked, as if the tree is dead, yet it is simply getting ready and waiting. Dormant, not dead. Preparing, not flagging. Ready, not past. We do not see the readiness or the stores of energy, simply the upper shell battling the winter winds and storms.
Lots to learn from the trees …
The roots ask us whether we, too, have hidden inner reserves stored away for the right time? For a time of need? Just in case?
The roots remind us that what is deep down is what will keep us secure for the future, whatever it holds. Our inner reserves, physically, mentally, spiritually, are vital in times of crisis and need.
The branches ask us whether we are slimmed-down to cope with the buffeting of life? Removing the unnecessary baggage and surfaces which catch every breeze and amplify it to breaking point?
The branches remind us to make sure we are clear of anything which can weigh us down or exaggerate the damage of life’s storms. Are we able to ride out the winds, stand firm in the storms?
The leaves ask us whether we have strength and energy which needs re-directing to better help us in the future. Things which would be better stored for the time of need.
The leaves remind us to shed what is no longer needed, reducing our vulnerability to the slightest breeze. Removing what is not needed so that the whole may be more healthy.
Quite a challenge. Being ‘Winter ready’ in all aspects of our lives – physical, mental and spiritual.
How are your roots?
Join us to strengthen your roots, shed damaging baggage, or simply meet with Jesus.
May God Bless you,
Mark