Autumn’s Special Message – Sunday, September 28, 1980
Autumn is a season of pure poetry with its brilliant colors and bountiful harvests. It is the fullness of all seasons—triumphantly grown old, rich and fulfilled. It penetrates the inner universe of the soul as we witness its message of mortality . . . as we see the falling red and yellow-gold leaves. . . the trees increasingly bare. . . as we become aware of the fading warble of birds and the absent chirp of crickets.
In autumn we are keenly aware of parallels between nature and our own later years. Autumn’s quiet and effortless transformation from summer is so gradual that it escapes daily observation. So too, must we yield ourselves naturally to the rhythm of the years, and let our own inner timetables complete their important cycles.
Seneca tells us to embrace old age and love it, for “the gradually declining years are among the sweetest in a man’s life. . . even when they have reached the extreme limit,” he says, “they have their pleasure still.”1
The trick to living longer, it is said, is to think older when we are young so we can act younger when we are old. Almost all people who reach their 80’s or 90’s in good health follow this basic formula.
As with the autumn season, the later years can be the most beautiful and interesting. . .
the most exciting and rewarding. A noted gerontologist says those people who die with a thousand unfilled dreams are probably the happiest people during their older years.
The Autumn harvest also reminds us of Paul’s admonition, ” . . . whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. “2
Whatever we have planted through life, we reap in later years. If we have planted the habits of good health, we are more likely to harvest well-being and a long life. If we have planted the bonds of close family ties, the harvest brings joy through all our years. If we have planted the seeds of true friendship, we reap the benefits while sharing autumnal beauty and peace of mind.
And if we have planted a tiny seed of faith early enough, it has taken root and has grown to become a towering tree that shadows over us, and that provides us with everlasting peace of mind. The real comfort of faith comes most reassuringly to those who have planted it early and nurtured it well.
And so autumn is not only the season of beauty , the season of harvest, the season of poets. . . but for those who have prepared well, it is also the season of fulfillment.
1 Lillian Eichler Watson, “Contentment in Later Years.” Light from Many Lamps, Simon and Schuster, 1951, p. 269.
2 New Testament, Galatians 6:7.
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September 28, 1980
Broadcast Number 2,667