Autumn is a wonderful season. It gives us many things to ponder about. All the green grasses, plants, and tree which gave the sense of life to us during the spring and summer withers and dies. The grass in the field loses its color and freshness of life and turns to whitish brown, making crumbling noises when stepped on. And the trees shed all the beautiful decorations they had during the summer and only the essence of life is left behind in its most basic form with no flowers, no leaves, no young boughs and soft branches.
It seems to me that ironically this is the very season we can experience life as it is. During the spring and summer, we have been deceived by the outward appearances of things such as leaves, flowers, bees and butterflies and tended to think that these are the signs of life. However, during the autumn we come to realize that they were just a set of decorations which cannot be regarded as the part of the essence of life. The true essence of life appears when the life shed all the redundant parts from itself during the autumn. When the trees shed its leaves and remove its mask, we can see the true reality of life groaning and striving hard to endure the hardships. We can see the life itself, holding on the last breath as long as it can. When the leaves of the grass wither and turn pale white, we can feel the life hidden underneath the crispy demolition of those dried blades.
At this moment of the year, we can sense the true life which we also must go through. When our life on this earth is over, we will have to shed also things that is not essential by leaving those things behind. Only the essence of life would be left for us so that we can make a new life after this life is over. While we are living on this earth, however, we do not realize this and by being deceived by the things that are not essential we pay more attention to the outward things, neglecting more important things. At the time of shedding, we come to realize that we have been chasing after the wind, seeking after the meaningless things. Look at the things around us-the grasses, trees, leaves, and even animals and insects. They are teaching us that we will be like them soon. At that time, all the redundant things we have gathered to us to beautify us and to justify us will be taken away from us, and only the essence of life in us would be laid bare.
Psalms 103:15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.Isaiah 40:6 A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The life of men are like grass. It has its own time once, but sooner or later it withers and dies. In this meaningless life, what are we seeking after? Wealth, fame, knowledge, wisdom, popularity, power, beauty…? The time will come when we have to shed all these redundant things and the thing left in us will be the essence or the seed of life that would sprout into a new life. At that moment, what if we do not have this seed of life? We will not be able to enter into the life. Then what is the essence of life that we must have in us so that we can inherit the imperishable life? Just like a tree condenses all the life it had into the form of fruit with seeds in it and so does grass, we should have the seed of life in us.
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
Again in the Book of the First Peter, it is written:
1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable (seed), through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
The seed we must have inside is the words of God, the gospel which Christ came and preached 2000 years ago. He wanted to plant good seeds in us, which would sprout into eternal life. However, during the Dark Ages the Romans started to change the words of God one by one, taking away from us the essence of life. But according to the prophecy of Hebrews 9:28, Christ appeared to us again for the second time to plant this seed of life in us again. Let us plow the hardened soil of our heart and plant the good seed, waiting for the day it would sprout and bloom into a new life.