Sunday Afternoon Tea

I decided to give the place a more autumnal look and sound... the music of Percy Faith playing Autumn Leaves... sigh. Beautiful.

The leaves are changing and becoming more glorious here every day. I will soon be sipping the Good Earth's Original Sweet & Spicy tea. It is probably the tea I have used the longest since I first remember purchasing it in a health food store... late 70's perhaps? The cinnamon flavor is perfect for this time of year.

I wasn't sure what to write about this week until I was driving home Saturday from town, taking the "scenic route" through county roads passing farms and horses, golden cornstalks and purple autumn wildflowers, trees the color of yellow delicious apples and deep red plums growing within forests of trees still holding onto their pale green color.

A yellow school bus parked in front of a farmhouse, and the old country church with the beautiful stained glass windows which tells me I am close to home. The world looks as it is suppose to on a sunny autumn day.

I thought of the events of the past few weeks and the fear that has gripped the world. People I know have lost much of their retirement accounts. Others wonder if their jobs will be around this time next year. In my own home, we closely guard available dollars for milk and eggs, prescriptions, and putting gasoline in one car. Perhaps it is a good thing we have had to live so frugally all these years for change is not easy for those who have had... more than enough.

Christopher and I had a chat last night about what the future holds, will he be able to complete a college education and if so... what path is the best for working in a future that looks very different than a year ago? Serious questions for one just beginning their life's work.

One of my favorite Bible verses is located near the top of this page, never has it been more meaningful to me than now. Thus says the Lord: stand by the roads, and look and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for our souls. Jeremiah 6:16.

How do I find rest for my soul when the evening news is showing me a world that is out of control... how many times this week did I hear "experts" saying they don't know how to fix this problem. Everything they throw at it doesn't seem to work. How our stomachs could churn if we didn't know the Prince of Peace.

But we do. Can we not look into the Words of The Book and read of a world that looks like ours today? Bible teachers have been talking of this age for many years now and here I am... looking at the scenarios playing out in the headlines of my local paper.

I look back. I remember the many, many times He provided for us out of nothing. I think of the recent weeks when I could have gone into a coma but He kept me safe and out of the hospital. I look back and see loved ones I thought would never change and see them today... or before they passed on... trusting in a Lord they didn't know years before, their lives changed miraculously by the One who holds our future.

I think of nights beside each child when a fever was dangerously high and praying for His touch... and it came. I remember being hours away from having no place to spend the night and no money and an unexpected cashier's check arrived all the way from California.

I look back and see the times He has led me to a thrift store or a garage sale where I find an item I've needed for a small amount of money. I look back and remember the days I have been so weary in my walk and I could use just a small break from routine, only to find a gift card or a little cash in the mail... sent by one who said they were "thinking of me". I know the One who placed me on their heart. :)

Oh, I have rest for my soul my friends. As I drive down the country roads not too far from the small town where I grew up, my thoughts were of the old days. So much has changed in the world but then again... the corn looks the same in October as it did when I lived near cornfields as a five year old, the color of the trees beside the river are the same hues as when I played among them as a child, the little church has been there over a hundred years... through a Depression, many Recessions, and a couple world wars.

This world is getting older and "all creation groans" to be renewed. If we are not careful, we will allow that which is happening all around us to determine our outlook for the future. No... we will look to the One who placed us here in this time... in this place... for His purpose. We will gain strength through His Word and through looking back at all the times He has brought us through trials and tribulations.

That's what I began to ponder as I was driving home Saturday. How the land doesn't change and how each season has its' own beauty. How He never changes in the midst of chaos and uncertainty. He is in control. So we can rest and trust that He will see us through the days ahead.