“Harvest is finished,” and goldenrod scarfs through the sere fields, engulfing fading blooms in the insatiable flames of fall. “Summer is gone,” and frost kisses the dusky rose, bleaching her cheek to wan paleness. Summer offers up her store on the altar to Autumn, a sacrifice resplendent with the flaming flush of vegetation but leaving in its wake a withered wasteland for winter. The flora dies. The fauna flies. What of the flesh and blood of man? Man must toil after Summer reduces her reserves to ashes till Spring returns adorned with all her finery. During this time of sowing bulbs and airing the earth, a lack of fruit does not signify futile labors. Lulled by the smoky breath of fall and blanketed by the frosty sheen of winter, the sprouts will bide their time before springing anew from the soil. Like the Autumn of the earth, the Autumn of the soul represents a time of planting and patience. Both stories and Scripture demonstrate this.
Stories prove that the autumn of the soul represents a time of planting and patience. Although the roses that stained summer’s cheeks fade to a delicate hue, the produce that sustains her begins to take root. Like bulbs buried in the barren months before they bloom, so also for man, during a time of waning joys and wasting beauty, seeds of deeper sustenance begin to sprout. Consider Rose from Louisa May Alcott’s Rose in Bloom. While the flowering belles of society flourish perpetually, Rose Campbell experiences an autumn of the heart where her unfolding petals falter in the cold blast of society’s breath. Discouraged by her floundering relationships, failed commitments, and frivolous friends, she experiences a spiritual fall where everything within and around her appears to be dying, yet this phase of burning the brush of the present prepares her for burying the seeds of the future. Her life looks like a barren field, all the trees leafless, all the flowers dead, yet beneath the frosty soil, bulbs and seeds, planted by the trials that purged her of summer’s blooms, begin to take root. Although her friend Phebe travels away, Rose mentors young girls in need of guidance. When her suitor, Charlie, ruins his life, she runs to wiser cousin Mac who guides her. Throughout the story, Rose learns that the most bounteous harvest may follow the most barren season. Though trials come, they pave the path for triumphs.
The Bible also encourages its readers with the reminder that seasons come and go, seeds sprout and die. Leviticus 25 reminds readers to let the ground rest after six years of cultivating it. This allows a time of respite for not only the farmers who till the soil for its fruits but also for the soil producing the fruit. Ultimately, this practice not only prepares for the fruitfulness of a bounteous harvest but also prevents the catastrophe of an eroding environment. After a sabbath rest during which the fields lie fallow and the dirt rests dormant, the earth can yield an even greater increase. One year of Jubilee prepares for many years of toil.
God views his people as his farmland. In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes to the church, “You are God’s field” (3:9). These four words penetrate the hearts of those who read them with key truths that delve deeper than the roots of trees. Fields flourish and fade. They require work. They get messy. Fields yield fruits and weeds. The farmer picks produce. The farmer prunes plants. When fall comes, the field rests. Although it yields no harvest for a time, the time of rest revives the land like a season of sabbath revives man.
Both stories and Scripture demonstrate how a season of leisure enlivens the laborers. Autumn on Earth means rest for the land. Autumn in the soul symbolizes rest for man. Although “Harvest is finished and summer is gone,” man need not despair the flames of fall engulf the fruits of summer. Fall becomes not a ceremony to death but a celebration of rest.
