The first day of autumn. The milkweed is beginning to puff with seeds. It won’t be long now before they brazenly burst, and the breeze will carry wisps of white bearing kernels of life.

Everywhere, the asters are blooming boldly—purple New England and white heath. There’s chicory, too, first brought by the early settlers as a medicinal herb and still foraged by herbalists, and delicate Queen Anne’s lace. My favourite is the goldenrod. There seems to be more than usual this year, painting the meadows a rich yellow.

“You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.” (Psalm 65:11)

This is the time of beauty. The trees still cling to leafy cloaks, and the bees and butterflies flit from flower to flower, busier than ever. Fields overflow their harvest into vegetable bins and market stalls. Autumn is abundance.

And yet, change is in the air.

At the park, the squirrels are frantic, hiding nuts and seeds wherever they can. The occasional leaf falls quietly, stark red coming to rest against a cushion of green grass. There are mushrooms popping up on the lawn. The brutal heat is occasionally broken by days that are downright chilly. Night comes far too early.

“He changes times and seasons…” (Daniel 2:21)

This is a promise. Summer is done. And although winter will alternate bleakness and fury, there will be joy in ice-coated branches etching blue sky, in pure white snow stooping to gently kiss bare ground.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

There is something comforting about changing seasons. They breathe the promise that nothing in this life lasts forever. This too shall pass. It will. Every ounce of pain, every ounce of heartache. Because in the pain of letting go, there is the letting go of pain. Every season, both natural and spiritual, comes to an end.

This will pass.

And something new will begin.

So here’s to autumn. To beauty and promises and change.

To a God that loves us enough to bring us through one season and into the next.

Happy first day of fall, everyone.