The Dark Before the Dawn: A Lesson from Autumn

Nature can be a profound teacher. Looking to divine revelation for guidance is good and necessary, but God speaks through creation too. Humans are natural beings, and other natural beings are beacons, showing us how to fulfill God’s plan without the turmoil that comes from free will. Right now, autumn is at its height. Every day that goes by brings another shower of leaves, another layer of loss. Many people find autumn depressing; after all, it’s a reminder of the march of time. Time inevitably takes things away. The fact that this process is natural isn’t always comforting. It takes a lot of wisdom, or a lot of stoicism, to be grateful for past blessings without dwelling on the fact that we don’t have them anymore.

But there is another way to think about change. Do you remember the old poem “I Heard A Bird Sing”, by Oliver Herford? It goes like this:

I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

“We are nearer to spring
Than we were in September.”
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.

The natural world looks forward to the future instead of looking back. Trees don’t cling to their old leaves; they know that they need to shed them to prepare for winter. Because after winter comes spring, just as surely as fall comes after summer. We humans have many mini-cycles of joy and sorrow in our lives, but we know from our faith the point at which the ultimate cycle, the grand trajectory of our lives, stops. Jesus showed us when He rose from the dead on Easter; nature begins, and ends, with a burst of life. That eternal spring will be better than anything we’ve left behind in the past, but it’s necessary to get through the winter first. I sometimes think nature knows that winter won’t have the last word. Maybe that’s what gives it its motivation to move steadily toward the finish, through its revolutions of darkness and light. We can do the same thing. If we remember that light is the thing to which all things return, no darkness can make us despair.