I hate death, but I love autumn. Fresh winds of crisp air and blazing colors of glory sweep through our world like whispers of anticipated change to come.
But autumn is a death—the end of newborn spring and prolonged summer—as even leaves fall onto the ground to be buried alongside us.
In both the desolation and the beauty, I’m learning that my appreciation for a season of weather can cultivate my appreciation for a season of life too.
We anticipate, celebrate, and rejoice in autumn for many of the same reasons we can take heart and find hope even in the season of death.
Relief from Scorching Heat
It may be especially true for those of us who live in the American South, but I welcome the first weeks of fall weather like a blast of air-conditioning in a car that’s been baking in the sun. For some who have lived long and are in life’s final stretch, I wonder if the approach of death can feel this way too.
We anticipate, celebrate, and rejoice in autumn for many of the same reasons we can take heart and find hope even in the season of death.
On the other hand, far too many people die heartbreakingly young. Their deaths are an interruption of a story we expected to continue for chapters to come.
But the deaths of many others in their aging years may be more like the turning of the seasons from long, dry summers to refreshing winds of cool relief. Those who are in Christ pass from extended days of pain and suffering on earth to be present with their Lord—he who promises to wipe every tear from their eyes in a place where death, mourning, and pain will be no more (2 Cor. 5:8, Rev. 21:4). And with these saints, even as we miss them here on earth, we rejoice.
Harvest with Thanksgiving
The hallmark holiday of autumn is Thanksgiving—a time for reaping the fruit of God’s blessings and celebrating his abundance of grace as he supplies our needs according to his riches in glory (Jer. 5:24, Phil. 4:19).
Yet even as we celebrate the gifts, we honor most the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17) by expressing our gratitude and dependence on him as the One who opens his hands and satisfies the desires of all living things (Ps. 145:16). In the Old Testament, the people were commanded to bring a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Ps. 50:14; Ps. 116:17). We likewise offer the sacrifice of our very lives in thanks for all he has done and is for us (Rom. 12:1).
We remember that this earth will end with a great harvest too (Matt. 13:30; Rev. 14:15). He is the Lord of the harvest (Matt. 9:38, Matt. 13:39), and he sends us out to labor within it (Luke 10:2)—not for the sake of perishable food, but for souls not to perish. Each harvest on this earth can therefore remind us of the great eternal harvest in the new heaven and earth to come.
Assurance of Permanence
Through a season in which so much seems temporary and transient, the contrast of all that eternally endures is especially stark—and assuring.
Through a season in which so much seems temporary and transient, the contrast of all that eternally endures is especially stark—and assuring.
As the grass withers and the flowers fade, we remember that our God and his steadfast love are from everlasting to everlasting (Ps. 90:2; Ps. 103:17) and that his Word endures forever (Isa. 40:8). Even when it feels like everything around us—including our health—is giving way and all that we have leaned on is trembling, still we have no reason to fear, because God is our immovable refuge and an ever-present help (Ps. 46:1–3). Despite the ever-changing transitions of life, we who are in Christ will be with the Lord forever. And we can encourage one another with these words (1 Thess. 4:17–18).
Hope of New Life
Fall is undeniably a season of death. But this death is a prerequisite for spring, and the promise of new life is as sure as the cycle of seasons—even as we persevere with hope through a bleak winter of grieving and missing those we love.
Like fallen acorns sinking into the soil in autumn, so the burial of every believer is a planting—a seed laid into the ground in confidence that when the final enemy is destroyed (1 Cor. 15:26), we will be raised again to new life like oaks of righteousness (Isa. 61:3) and we will be changed (1 Cor. 15:51), all because Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24).
So we do not lose heart. Our outer selves may be wasting away and we may be deeply afflicted, but our inner selves are being renewed day by day, and these afflictions are only light and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory God is preparing for us (2 Cor. 4:16–18). Even as we are sorrowful, we are always rejoicing (2 Cor. 6:10).
We will grieve when those we love fall asleep in death, but we will not grieve as those without hope (1 Thess. 4:13). There will be death, but that death will give way to life for those who are in Christ. He chose his own death in love for us, and he lives that death may die.
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