The Fall

The wind is howling through the small opening in the window like a threatened lion, and the dark gray clouds are quickly moving across the sunless sky with their ominous warning of sudden cold.  Just yesterday I was sitting in the sun on the front porch enjoying brightness of the leaves on the fall-kissed trees.  How can warmth and beauty be interrupted so abrubtly?  It seems wrong somehow.  Shouldn't we have a chance to at least enjoy this spectacular beauty until the leaves fall off?  This is what I don't like about fall! So unpredictable!

               








  I mean, just look at these colors!  The light just seems to glow from within the trees!  They shout, "Hey, Look at Me!"  My husband and I spent Saturday evening fishing....well, he fished and I wandered and wondered! I snapped pictues and I WAS HAPPY surrounded by all that glorious light! Why the cold now?

Isn't that the way life is sometimes?  When things are going good, we notice the beauty around us.  We are awed even by the little things.  We wander and wonder about in a state of bliss.

And then BOOM!!!!  The strong chilling winds of difficult circumstances howl, nearly causing the hair on the back of our neck to stand up.  The dark clouds of doubt or depression come rolling in, and suddenly there is no more blue sky.  The color drains from our sight and things turn to gray. 

And ~~~somehow it all seems so wrong.  Shouldn't we be happy all of the time?  Shouldn't we be sheltered from the hard things if we are trying to do all the right things in life?  I used to think that way~~~~but that was before I knew God, and that was before I understood what GRACE is.

I don't like THE FALL~~~the fall of mankind in the beginning of time.  The moment that sin and darkness entered in, things flip-flopped.  Originally, God created a place of perpetual beauty and peace.  He provided everything that man would need in order to survive.  Everything lived in constant harmony.  Man had a purpose, and that was to tend God's creation and love Him.  There was no conflict, no death, no bloodshed.  Just bliss.  But as soon as the first act of disobedience was committed, it all changed.  Darkness and evil became known~~~the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was eaten, and Evil Became Known.

Before that point, mankind could expect goodness and beauty.  It was a free gift.  They didn't know how good they had it!  But when evil entered in, and man fell away from God, the hard things of life became part of life. No longer could mankind expect perpetual bliss, nor feel deserving of it.  Apart from God, all we can expect is WHAT IS.  And nothing more.

But, in God's GRACE, He had a plan and a way to bring perpetual good.  But not in the way that man expects.  The perpetual good is what comes when we allow Perpetual Light to enter in.  Jesus is the Light of the World.  When we let Him in, there is only external darkness.  Because in Him, there is no darkness

Now, I see things differently.  I realize that if it weren't for Jesus and His death on the Cross, we would never be satisfied.  We would always be searching for things that make us feel good, but nothing would be able to fill that heart-shaped void. There is not one of us that deserves goodness, because we all are human and fall short of the glory of God.  But by His GRACE, He gives good. And even in the dark times of life, He shows us His Light by His Grace. He fills our void. And THAT is the kind of good that WE CAN EXPECT.  How can we not be thankful for that?!