May Autumn bring us hope

Many consider autumn the season of death and nature’s decline. A time when the earth grieves Persephone’s absence. If we see it this way, it is a sad omen, but what if the earth’s mourning carries a different message God wants us to see and hear?

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Psalm 19:1

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told people to look at how wildflowers grow, noting that they do not labor or spin, yet even King Solomon, in all his glory, was not dressed as beautifully as these natural plants. (Matthew 6:28-29)

The Prophet Mohammed answered a believer, saying, “God is beautiful and loves beauty.” 

When you look out the window or go out for a walk or a hike, your eyes are sublimed by the breathtaking beauty of the foliage and colors in Autumn, the snow falling on the bushes and branches in Winter, the beauty of Spring and Summer, and your faithful heart tells you that all that beauty is the beauty of God. Yes, God is beautiful; his creation surpasses any artist’s masterpiece. Not even Monet’s beautiful Autumn paintings equal the beauty and reality of God and God’s creation. Monet’s works capture shifting light and, by showing changes at different times of day, can show some of God’s beauty but never equal it. 

Reality shows us that if there is light, there are colors, but there is also darkness. Darkness and light team together or replace each other; just like there is no fire without smoke, there is no darkness without light. In darkness and naked trees, you can feel shining stars, beauty, charm, and elegance. In the light, beauty comes through color, rebirth, and, therefore, hope.

Remember when curiosity won against Pandora, and she opened the sealed jar; all the bad came out, but only hope remained. Hope lives in the light and in the darkness. Remember Théophile Gautier and the flock of swallows talking about traveling in Autumn to warm areas of the beautiful Mediterranean basin, and the poet understanding them in the poem often translated as “Autumn Song” or “What the Swallows Say.” The poet is a bird, just like Baudelaire’s Albatross.

Nature is our gift from God; its beauty is our hope; the seeds planted for Spring are our patience and waiting, or delay, for better days and better faith. God offers us beauty, whether we deserve it or not. Saint Augustine said while reflecting on the beauty of nature as Bishop of Hippo Regius:

“Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked.”

Saint Augustine’s, The City of God (Book XV, Chapter 22).

Let us be the ones who deserve it and know its value, because it is God’s value. Let us love God as we love his gifts to us. Let us be grateful by loving God and loving each other.

If you are asked to define Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, the best summary common to the three faiths would be: Believe in the only God and refrain from doing to your fellow human being what you don’t want to be done to you.

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