(Introduction)
source: http://www.jokes4us.com/miscellaneousjokes/weatherjokes/falljokes.html
What did the tree say to autumn? leaf me alone.
What did one autumn leaf say to another? I'm falling for you.
Fall is a time of transition.
Transitioning weather from the warmth of summer to the cold of winter.
Transitioning of landscapes from greens to browns.
Transitioning of time from long days to long nights.
These transitions excite some, who enjoy the time and appreciate the spectacular sights, sounds, and activities of fall.
These transitions discourage others, who can only think of the coming dark, cold, dreary days of winter.
It’s during this amazing time of transition where we get to see God’s magnificent handiwork on display probably more prominently than any other time of the year, except for maybe during the other time of transition, spring.
I can’t count the number of folks in my Facebook feeds these past few weeks who have been posting this year the most majestic pictures of our county backroads and the beauty that completely surrounds us. Fall this year seems to have stirred in many the appreciation and admiration of the inherent beauty that God has put on display.
We are blessed to be able to look out our windows and see the changing colors of fall, the beautiful handiwork of our God.
With that idea in mind, last week, we began a short study guided by the creative colors God gives us this time of year.
We considered the changing colors of the trees, and were encouraged to be an example to the world, showing off the true beauty within.
The changing colors of the fall trees are an encouragement to always remember that God has created all of these wonderful blessings that we enjoy every day.
The beauty of the fall trees remind us that God is still in control, still in charge, still at the helm. We can rest assured in the unchanging nature of our God, despite the constant change in our world that surrounds us.
This morning, fall gives us a special opportunity to reflect on the majesty of the beauty that surrounds us. As the days get shorter and the nights get longer, fall gives us a chance to do some introspective looking at our lives and souls.
While I certainly wouldn’t subscribe to many of the things that 19th century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (nee - chuh), wrote or said, I do believe he hit on a great nugget with this statement:
“Autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.”
Fall is a time for an in-depth, honest evaluation or examination of our motivations, our values and our emotions regarding our life's path. For many, fall is a time of internal search for deep meaning and moral contentment.
This morning, let’s look together at some honest examinations of our souls and lives, and learn some lessons from fall, and learn to delight in the details of the beauty around us, reflect on where we have been this year, and gain focus on where we are going from here.
As we begin, the sun and moon in fall can teach us about balance in our lives.
There are two times a year that the earth feels like it is in perfect balance: autumn equinox and spring equinox.
Two days a year where there is an equal amount of day and night — the same number of daylight hours as nighttime hours.
The spring equinox is where all things are becoming new.
The autumn equinox is nature getting ready for it’s “long winter’s nap”.
Old myths teach that on these two special days you can balance an egg on its end. Why? Because the earth is in perfect balance. Equal amount of day and night.
Equal gravitational pull.
The perfect balance.
Now, it has been proven that you can really balance an egg on any day. But the thought of perfect balance in our physical world does give us a reason to consider balance in our lives.
Things in our world today get so easily out of balance, even more so these days with the new demands on people because of COVID and economic stresses in our lives.
For many, for example, the work/life balance is all out of whack.
25 New Statistics on Work-Life Balance (2021)
https://ergonomictrends.com/work-life-balance-statistics/
In an article in Ergonomic Trends, 60% of Americans say they have poor work-life balance mostly due to a lack of boundary between work and home life.
On average, employees take 26% of their work back home to complete, eating into their personal time. In an analysis of 185 million working hours, RescueTime, an analytic tool that folks can use to help determine how they spend their time, reported that employees are only able to complete 74% of their tasks during their time at work. This means more than a quarter of the work has to be done on their own personal time. A combination of unproductive meetings and digital distractions are to blame, according to experts.
73% of work from home employees say they enjoy better work life balance compared to when they worked onsite. The top reason cited was more time to spend with family. Almost 3 out of every 4 remote workers said that working from home enables them to better balance their personal and professional lives. They’re more productive thanks to:
Fewer interruptions – 68%
More focused time – 63%
Quieter work environment – 68%
More comfortable workplace – 66%
Avoiding office politics – 55%
Since working from home, remote workers also reported:
Spending more time their family/children (46%)
Spending more time with partners (42%), or pet(s) (37%).
Having a poor work-life balance impacts our health. People who often work long hours are also 1.66 times more likely to suffer from depression, and 1.74 times for anxiety. This is fairly predictable if you consider that work-life conflicts usually resolve in favor of work, with personal and social life being sacrificed. When asked what aspects of their life have suffered the most due to poor work-life balance, almost half reported that it was their family relationships (48%) and relationships with friends (47%).
Employees say that bad bosses are the biggest reason for poor work-life balance. When asked which factors hurt work-life balance the most, the top factor employees cited was bad bosses that are overbearing, demanding or mean (60%), followed by frequent overtimes (39%).
Our lives need balance.
NBA Superstar Fueled by Intentional Work Life Balance
Source: Jamie Goldberg, “With a clearer mind, Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is enjoying historic scoring stretch,” The Oregonian (2-3-20)
Copied from Preaching Today
In 2020, Trail Blazers superstar point guard Damian Lillard was the talk of the league, after a string of sizzling scoring performances, including a 50-point performance against the Los Angeles Lakers. But when asked to explain his success, his answers had little to do with basketball. While speaking to a reporter, Lillard referenced a recent extended family outing focused around his eleven-year-old nephew’s birthday party:
“Our family is always going to be there. The stuff that affects us in our personal lives is always going to be there. I think regardless of where I am in my career, that’s the stuff that I really care about and that’s the stuff that makes me feel my best personally. When you’re taking care of that, it just creates a better balance. When you come back to basketball, you’re able to function better, do things with a clearer mind.”
As a team, the Trail Blazers had significantly underperformed relative to expectations. Lillard says in earlier years, a stretch of similarly bad play might’ve led him to turn inward, obsessively working out, or watching game film. This year, he instead made a dedicated effort to reach outside of himself, spend more time with friends and family, and attend church and chapel services. He said, “It’s just focusing on it, really working on that part of it ... figuring out what fills me up, what makes me feel good about myself, just as a person. It has an impact on what I do on the floor.”
He had learned a lesson we all need to learn — find that balance, and keep focused on what is important.
We need it between work and home. We need to set boundaries, rules, and thresholds. We need to do everything we can to not cross those lines. We need to work toward finding harmony in our lives so that we can reduce the stress, and find more enjoyment in the things we do.
We need it between personal and family time. We must have a balance between self and those around us. It needs to be whatever will rejuvenate us individually, whether it is personal meditation, exercise, reading, or whatever we enjoy doing that recharges our batteries.
Additionally, it must include a personal time to commune with God. We need balance in our lives that ensures we focus on our relationship with God.
The Psalmist said in Psalm 127:
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for He grants sleep to those He loves. (Psalm 127, NIV)
Truly, God shouldn’t be segmented out of all of the other aspects of our lives. We need to make sure that God is involved in every corner of our lives.
We need to find the balance in our lives — all the way around.
We cannot forget to always be focused on God, despite all of the busyness of our world. We must focus on our relationship with Him.
Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:
33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6, NLT)
This morning, I encourage us to examine our lives. If things are out of balance, let’s strive to find ways to get that balance back. Without balance, we will work ourselves to death — will wear ourselves out — will exhaust ourselves.
Our bodies need balance. Our lives need balance. Our souls need balance.
Fall teaches us that all must come back into balance.
2. Second, the animals of fall teach us to plan ahead.
A Woman Decided To Have Her Portrait Painted. She ...
By Thomas Black
Copied from Sermon Central
A woman was planning ahead when she decided to have her portrait painted. She told the artist, "Paint me with diamond rings, a diamond necklace, emerald bracelets, a ruby broach, and gold Rolex."
The artist replied, "But you are not wearing any of those things.”
"I know," she said. "It’s in case I should die before my husband. I’m sure he will remarry right away, and I want his new wife to go crazy looking for the jewelry."
We have in our yard, a squirrel who has been running around like crazy this fall. I have seen him running up and down the trees in our front yard, across the power lines from up the road, and across the wooden fence that divides our yard from our neighbor behind us.
He has been carrying everything under the sun in his mouth as he is running.
He is planning for winter.
God programmed the animals of the world to prepare for winter — to store up the food that they need to make it through the long winter days and nights where food cannot be found.
Watching that crazy squirrel do his thing reminds me that we need to make sure we are storing up the right things for the right times.
What am I storing up? Am I storing up bank accounts, houses, cars, play toys for time on earth? Or am I storing up treasures for my reward in Heaven?
What is my soul focused on? The here and now? Or the there and then?
Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ^ 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. (Matthew 6, NLT)
Truthfully considering these words and implementing them in our lives will help with the first thing we talked about — balance.
Considering and heeding these words of Jesus will help us focus on what is truly important, and will help us balance out the rest of our lives.
True Riches
By Asiri Perera
Copied from Sermon Central
There’s an old story of a tax officer who asked an old man to declare his wealth.
The old man declared his riches like this:
A mansion in heaven
Everlasting life
Peace that passes all understanding
Joy unspeakable
Divine love that never fails
A crown of life
A faithful wife
Healthy, Happy and obedient children
Loyal friends
Songs in the night
The tax officer, chuckled, closed his book and said: “Truly you are a very rich man. But your wealth is not subject to taxation.”
This fall, let’s take a few moments to examine where and what we are accumulating in our lives. Are we rich in the right things? Are we focused on the right parts of our lives?
Are we like the animals of fall storing up the right things in the right places for the right times? Or are we scurrying around, just enjoying the pleasures of today without any consideration for the times to come?
3. Third this morning, the beauty of fall reminds us to delight in the details.
We need to remember to stop and enjoy the details of the beauty around us, especially visible in the colors of fall.
The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 96:
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.” 11 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here
among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress.
(Psalm 96, NLT)
In all of the busyness of our lives, God calls us to stop, be still, and know Him. There’s no better way to start knowing God then to notice the details in the beauty of his creation.
It’s like the old adage that reminds us to stop and smell the roses.
Silence: Taking Your Soul With You
By Sermon Central
(Source: Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith [New York: Riverhead Books, 1998], 16-17. From a sermon by Carl Greene, "Two Point Conversion" 2/16/2009)
Copied from Sermon Central
Author Kathleen Norris used to play a game with elementary-school children in which she would make a deal with them. “First you get to make noise,” she would bargain, “and then you’ll make silence.”
The time of noise, as any teacher can attest, was always predictably chaotic — shouting, pounding and stomping. But the period of silence that followed was unexpectedly passionate and creative.
When the children were asked to write about it, reflects Norris, “their images often had a depth and maturity that was unlike anything else they wrote.”
One boy discovered that “Silence is a tree spreading its branches to the sun.”
One third-grader’s poem turned into a prayer: “Silence is spiders spinning their webs; it’s like a silkworm making its silk. Lord, help me to know when to be silent.”
A little girl offered a gem of spiritual wisdom that Norris finds herself returning to when her life becomes too noisy and distracting: “Silence reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go.”
It is good for the soul to enjoy the quiet. It is in the quiet that we will find the subtle details that we often overlook because of the busyness, the fastness, the distractions in our lives. It is in the quietness, when we are still, that we can see the mysterious things God does every day that we just take for granted — majestically painted sunrises and sunsets, mountain-scapes more beautiful and wonderfully painted than anything ever imagined in the minds of even the greatest artists, the innocence of young children, the faithfulness of the seasons, the new life given each day amid the chaos of sin and destruction.
We need to stop and delight in the details all around us.
We need to stop and acknowledge the blessings that we have been given by God.
^ Have you ever stopped to closely look at the leaves as they are returning to their natural colors? The intricacy of the veins and lines that allow the water, nutrients, and chemicals to reach out to even the furthest edges of the leaf.
It’s amazing!
The details that God put not only in the leaves, but in every aspect of creation, including you and me.
This morning do not take the colors of the leaves, the crispness of the mornings, the beauty of the sunrises and sunsets, the perfection of creation around us for granted.
Fall reminds us to take time to be still, take notice and delight in the wonders of God.
Then we can sing with the Psalmist, from Psalm 111:
2 Great are the works of the Lord;? they are pondered by all who delight in
them.
3 Glorious and majestic are his deeds,? and his righteousness endures forever.
4 He has caused his wonders to be
remembered;? the Lord is gracious and compassionate.
^ 5 He provides food for those who fear
him;? he remembers his covenant forever.
6 He has shown his people the power of his
works,? giving them the lands of other nations.
7 The works of his hands are faithful and
just;? all his precepts are trustworthy.
^ 8 They are established for ever and ever,? enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
9 He provided redemption for his people;? he ordained his covenant forever—? holy and awesome is his name.
(Psalm 111, NIV)
4. Finally, this morning, fall reminds us to measure the successes.
Thoughts borrowed from https://www.learning-mind.com/fall-season-life-lessons/
Back in the old days, when our ancestors didn’t have all of the fancy technology we have today, the noise and distractions of modern life, when they lived more simple lives in tune with nature, they celebrated significant times throughout the cycle of the year. Some of those biggest celebrations were devoted to the harvest.
Harvest celebrations, like Thanksgiving in our country, for example, were massive events and times, celebrating the success of the harvest, dedicated to honoring all that had been accomplished. For those in the world who are followers of God, those times become an acknowledgment of the power and majesty of God, exhibited in the bountiful crops and blessings that had been experienced throughout the earlier seasons of the year.
The fall season is the time when we gather the harvest of our work done throughout the year — a time to celebrate the successes. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about the vegetables that grew in our garden, our career achievements or the results of our efforts to live a better life.
You see, it is important and essential for us to tally up the results of our work and evaluate our accomplishments in all spheres of our lives from time to time to just check in and see how we are doing.
Fall gives us just the perfect opportunity to do such reflection.
It’s an opportunity to ensure we are seeking God in all that we do in our lives.
After all, Proverbs 16:3 reads:
3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. (Proverbs 16, NLT)
If we want to find success, we need to ensure we are involving God in all of our plans, desires, and lives.
Taking this one step further, not only do we need to count our successes and wins we’ve accomplished, we need to tally up the results of God’s work in all aspects of our lives. Another way of saying it is this: count God’s wins each and every day.
Maybe when we look back, we may not have received what we wanted, what we expected, or what we desired, but God gave us exactly what we needed.
What a wonderful win that was in our lives.
Tallying God’s wins and successes in our lives gives us a reason to hope through the dark, cold, and dreary winter that lies ahead. For we know that in the seasons to come, God will always be faithful, will always be true, will be with us, and will always be there fulfilling all of his promises.
(Conclusion)
This morning, fall gives us the occasion to introspectively look at our lives and our souls.
What is it that we desire?
For what is it we are working?
What is it we seek?
In what do we delight?
Today, fall is a chance for us to stop, reflect, and determine what, if any, changes we need to make in our lives.
Do we need to focus more on family and less on work?
Do we need to seek more time with God?
Are we in need of more quietness?
Today, I encourage us to not leave this place unchanged.
I encourage each of us today to take stock of our lives.
Let this be the point where we decide to that we will not run blindly through the world, but will make sure we are making the most of every opportunity we have to make a difference in our own lives, in the lives of our families, in the lives of those in our community, and ultimately the world around us.
