Reflections by the Pond
July 30, 2003

The Weary Season

There comes a moment during the warmer months in which time slows and the summer becomes monotonous. In this brief interval, between the refreshing vitality of early summer and the cool transition of autumn, there is a casual suspension of change. And in a land where normally change is the watchword, every new day appears much like the one before.

The nesting wrens, that in the spring took possession of the small houses and sired several families, have now vacated the premises, so the air no longer carries their energetic song. The dwellings--empty of life, but filled with the twigs of the season's last nest--swing free from the branch, ready to be taken down and cleaned for next spring's family.

This season's young speckled fawns have sprouted long legs, and are already beginning to grow out of their spots and playful immaturity. Now, in preparation for the killing season to come, their mothers will teach them to have a healthy fear of things human. The wood ducks are long gone, and the only visible life around the pond is the silent meandering of the turtles as they paddle across its stagnant surface.

The trees are still green, of course, but their leaves have taken on a bored sameness--as if, once their full luster and dimensions have been attained, they've nothing left to live for, and simply hang and flutter patiently waiting for the Technicolor turning of fall.

Everything around us has been what it is for many weeks, and the dull throb of life waits expectantly for something to come along and lift it out of its hot and humid, languid doldrums.

How many are your works, O LORD!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
When you send your Spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth. Psalm 104:24,30

Walk down any city street and look upon the faces of those without the Lord. Look upon the face of dull monotony, of life without purpose, days without refreshment. Look upon the face of a barren soul, a strangled spirit. Today even happiness can wear a darker, bored visage where cynicism, sarcasm, and anger are the rules of the street.

The child of God may also experience, from time to time, a wearisome despair, but he knows from whence his revival comes. The one with Christ need never experience a time without renewal, without the fresh, reviving breeze of the Spirit.

Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God,
you who have done great things.
Who, O God, is like you?
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
You will increase my honor
and comfort me once again.
I will praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy
when I sing praise to you--
I, whom you have redeemed. Psalm 71:19-23 niv