Autumn Leaves

“Lord, you have assigned me
   my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.”

                                Psalm 16:5

Outside the Multi-Faith Office the trees are blazing with colour. Their leaves range in colour from light green tinged with yellow, to deep red and orange, and everything in between as they prepare to shed their summer leaves for the winter season, though first showing off an array of colour and light.

This morning for morning prayer we spent time with Psalm 16. It’s an invitation to give thanks to God for what he has done. Today one of the things he has done is bless the Kwantlen campus with bursting fall colour. This is part of “my portion and my cup” that God has given.

Of course, “my portion and cup” stretches beyond these few minutes of enjoying the beauty of autumn. We are all given many good things: bodies, personalities, careers, tasks, possessions, family, friends, and community; and the list goes on.

But all these things are not always so easy to accept; our “lot” does not always feel so “secure” as the Psalmist expresses here. My job is difficult! I'm struggling with my relationships! I feel like a failure! I want a different personality! My body is failing! My car isn't nice enough!

Such concerns and anxieties can plague anyone. When I walk these halls at KPU, meet students and faculty, or when I pray by myself, there always seem to be things we aren't happy with. Always something to be discomforted by. How then can we possibly thank God for our portion and our cup? How can we claim that he has made our lot secure? Even when surrounded by wealth, blessings, and love it’s so easy to feel insecure!

That is why these fall leaves in their seeming insignificance are so important. I glance out the window and can enjoy them for a brief moment before my thoughts become anxious or unsettled. And yet the trees still stand tall, displaying all their simple beauty. And for a moment my experience of them is “my portion and my cup”. In that experience, my lot is made secure.

We cannot experience peace in the big things of our life – marriage, work, family, self-identity – if we are not willing to find peace in the moment that God has given. Your portion and cup of large-life aspirations only takes place one moment at a time. So what God has given you, what God is always giving you, is this moment. Sometimes that moment is rather easy to enjoy, like beautiful autumn colours. I can totally admit that different circumstances can make “the moment” seem more like a burden than a blessing.

But God has redeemed this person (you) in this moment (now) through his identification with creation and humankind in Jesus. 

It is in Jesus that you, God,

Have made known to me the
  path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your
  presence,
with eternal pleasures at your
  right hand.

                                Psalm 16:11

Fill us with the joy of Christ through the Autumn leaves of the present moment, now and always.

Amen