Be Still October

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers ~ It would be terrible if we skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it? ~Anne of Green Gables

It’s easy for the month of October to get swept away by the accelerated culture. Be still, October!

Summer ended and we had a swift kick into Fall, going from sandals to sweaters in a nano-second. It’s getting more and more difficult to stay present in the day.  Especially, when store aisles are lined with skeletons and snowmen and lighted trees since Summerween. The culture rush is meant to rob our peace and awe.  So, don’t let it . . .

So here we are in mid-October, when it should have been a notice-the-art-of-the-season month, but schedules and distractions make it too easy to lose track of our God-designed surroundings. But we can choose to be in the October moment –when we shift our view from the rush of commercializing dread toward the raw rhythm of gratitude, harvest and autumn’s beauty. It begins with intention and a desire to look for the glory between the amber and the gold.

This is when Psalm 19:1 is never more true,  “the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”  The brilliant month when the season changes it’s wardrobe before it goes winter naked as leaves let go and know they’ll be beautiful again.

I wait for the Lord.  My whole being waits. And in His Word I hope.  Psalm 130:5

When we are crushed in the weight of the wait and prayers seem to go unanswered as days and years pass – the constant cycle of Autumn reminds us that we can embrace changes and have hope.

Let’s reclaim October.  Establish seasonal sanctuaries to guard your space. Put on warm socks and go for a walk in a cornfield, the place where faith grows.  Write God’s faithfulness in the pages of a journal and then write a sequel.  Listen to the crunch of leaves under your boots. Read a good book by firelight.  Gather apples, make a pie. And then take it to someone who struggles with the shorter days of October . . .

He made the moon to mark the seasons and the sun knows when to go down. Psalm 104:19