This is a beautiful time of year in central New York. Actually, mid-May through mid-October (even into November) there is perhaps no “naturally” better place to be. But as for the balance of the calendar year . . . .I find a bit of dread creeping into my outlook around the end of August. The summer is winding down, and though the visual delights and crisp days of autumn are imminent, after that comes - winter. Yet there is something fundamentally good about the seasonal extremes we encounter (endure?) here. Each makes us appreciate the other. What better thought on a sweltering July day than a sparkling white January landscape under a brilliant blue sky? Perhaps, the thought of the verdant color of full blown spring in late May while we slog through brown slush in March! The cycle of the seasons, as they come around like clockwork every year, reminds us of God’s unchanging faithfulness amidst the incredible variety in his creation.

The first half of Psalm 19 (also check out Psalm 104) reminds us of how God is evidenced in the creation. As Paul puts it, “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20). This is God’s glory revealed; but there is a lot more of God that we cannot get from observing the created order. And some (many) people choose not to see him in it at all; they see only the processes and not the purpose. Nature becomes the end, all there is - a “Mother.” And, Nature as such is actually quite scary, not really very “nice.” Only in the last 100 years or so have we been able to insulate ourselves from its terrors - to a point (can you say, “Katrina?”). C. S. Lewis says that “mistaken for our mother, [Nature] is terrifying and even abominable. But if she is only our sister - if she and we have a common Creator - if she is our sparring partner - then the situation is quite tolerable” (from essay, “Living in the Atomic Age,” 1948). After all, God at the start charged humankind with not only filling the earth but subduing it.

The second half of Psalm 19 reminds us that we need more than nature and the evidence of the creation to know God fully: “The law of the Lord is complete, reviving the soul” (v. 7). It is the written word of God, the Scriptures, which reveal who God is and what he is about, fully. We really can’t derive a notion of God’s justice, of his love and grace from nature - we might indeed come to opposite conclusions. And these are what we need to “revive the soul” - to be redeemed and restored to the life God intends for us. So, enjoy the fall - and indeed, the whole year!