¡Es Primavera! Ahora es el Tiempo para que la Tierra se Prepare para el Invierno

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Siga el Proceso de la Naturaleza para Comenzar a Prepararse para Su Invierno Espiritual

This week I have thoroughly enjoyed the changing season. Yes, Spring is upon us. Daffodils have broken through the ground and will be blooming soon. The sun has been shining and each day has gotten warmer than the day before. As they say, “Spring has sprung.”

According to Emily Dickinson, “Spring is the Period Express from God,” quoted from her poem, Spring is the Period.

Edwin Wat Teale expresó el optimismo de la Primavera en su libro Norte con la Primavera. “The world’s favorite season is the spring.  All things seem possible in May.”

Despite Ms. Dickinson’s and Mr. Teale’s opinions, my personal favorite season is Fall. Some time ago as I was engulfed by the beauty of the Fall foliage, I began looking toward Winter and asking God why the Fall was so beautiful when it was merely the precursor to the dormancy of Winter.  God began speaking to me about rest; the beauty of entering a place of rest.  He analogized the natural process of the changing of the leaves with the spiritual process of finding our rest in Him. Both require preparation in the Spring and Summer.

Proceso Natural 

De acuerdo con Science Made Simple [La Ciencia Simplificada] (www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves/html, accessed Mar. 14, 2022), Autumn, also referred to as Fall, is the transition between Summer and Winter.  Leaves actually begin preparing for Autumn as soon as they start growing in the Spring. 

In Spring the earth begins to warm as the daylight rapidly increases.  This causes new plant growth. Generally, there is a lot of moisture as snow melts and rains begin.  Unstable weather likely occurs.  Spring is a time of growth, renewal, and new life.

During the Summer, plants are making and storing food and are growing.  This is facilitated by the long hours of sunlight and the good supply of water.  Trees take water from the ground through their roots.  The leaves take in the carbon dioxide from the air.  Using sunlight, they turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose (a kind of sugar) through the process of “photosynthesis,” which means “putting together with light.”  A chemical called Chlorophyll is what gives leaves their green color.  However, the beautiful golds, oranges, and reds are also in the leaves, they just cannot be seen due to the amount of Chlorophyll in the leaves.  Plants use the glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing.  During Summer days, leaves make more glucose than the tree needs for energy and growth.  The excess is turned into starch and stored until needed. 

Before looking at Autumn, consider what trees do in the Winter, when there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis.  It is during the Winter that trees rest; they live off the food they stored during the summer. 

Now consider Autumn.  As the daylight gets shorter in the Autumn, plants begin to shut down their food production.  At the base of each leaf is a special layer of cells called the “abscission” or separation layer.  In the fall, the cells of the abscission layer swell and form a cork-like material, reducing and finally cutting off flow between the leaf and the tree.  Glucose and waste products are trapped in the leaf.  Without fresh water to renew it, chlorophyll begins to disappear, causing the green color to fade and allowing the golds, oranges, and reds to be seen. 

The bright reds and purples in leaves result from glucose that is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops.  The brown colors, including golds and oranges, result from the waste products left in the leaves.  It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful Fall foliage colors we enjoy each year.

Después de revisar esta actividad científica, empecé a entender lo que Dios me estaba mostrando sobre nuestras estaciones espirituales.

Proceso Espiritual 

First, let’s consider the spiritual Summer of our lives. It is during the Summer that we are to be eating and growing.  But what do we eat?  We can eat healthy or we can eat junk food.  Just like the trees, we can store up energy (glucose) or waste.

How do we store up energy to produce beautiful red and purple leaves during our spiritual Fall? By devouring God’s Word. His Word is as honey, which is sweet to our taste (Ps. 119:103).  Eating God’s Word produces wisdom in our souls (Pr. 24:13-14). With wisdom, we leave our simple ways and walk in the ways of understanding (Pr. 9:1-6).

During the spiritual Winter, we rest in God.  God knows we need rest.  One reason He gave us the Sabbath is for rest (Ex. 20:8-11).

Jesus encouraged His disciples to rest in Mark 6:30-32. He urged them to go with Him to a quiet place to get rest.  In Matthew 11:28-29, as He was speaking to the multitudes, He encouraged them to come to Him to find rest.

El Rey David reconoció a Dios como su única fuente de descanso. (Salmos 62:1).

Jesus intends for us to have spiritual Winters, those times when we must rest in Him.  So, how do we make it through the spiritual Winters, when there is no growth, no energy production?  We ensure that during our spiritual Summers, we are eating the good food, that which produces glucose, not waste.   And we eat enough to store the excess.  We cannot eat only enough to meet our current needs.  We cannot merely do the minimum.  If we do, we will not have enough good food to sustain us through the Winter.

Even before David became king, he urged the people of God to “taste and see that the Lord is good” and to fear Him and take refuge in Him so they would lack “no good thing.” (Ps. 34:8-10).

¿Qué es temer al Señor? Escuché a un joven ministro describirlo como estar obsesionado con Dios. Considere Proverbios 2:1-5.

Hijo mío, si haces tuyas mis palabras y atesoras mis mandamientos; si tu oído inclinas hacia la sabiduría y de corazón te entregas a la inteligencia; si llamas a la inteligencia y pides discernimiento; si la buscas como a la plata, como a un tesoro escondido, entonces comprenderás el temor del Señor y hallarás el conocimiento de Dios.

Proverbios 2:1-5 NVI.

Does this not sound like obsession?  Is this not illustrating the storing up of God’s word and commands?

Read on to Proverbs 2:6-11 to see the result of devouring God’s Word. These verses illustrate what our spiritual Autumns will look like.

For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.

Proverbios 2:6-11 NVI.

This is the spiritual Autumn. When we have stored up God’s Word throughout our spiritual summers, we will gain understanding of the fear of the Lord and knowledge of God. Then wisdom and knowledge will be stored in our hearts and souls throughout the Autumn. And we will be sustained through the spiritual Winters by knowledge and understanding, victory through Jesus as our shield and our guard, and discretion that protects us.

During the spiritual Summers of your life, eat up God’s Word by reading it, meditating on it, and praying it. Then just as the Fall foliage is beautiful to us, you will become beautiful to God during your spiritual Autumns.

Preparándose para el Descanso

God finds us beautiful when we are preparing to enter His rest, not just when we are in the midst of growth.  We will have spiritual Winters.  I have often heard people in spiritual Winters express they feel as if they are lacking something or failing God because there is not the intense hunger that they are used to.

Me he encontrado en inviernos espirituales, por lo que la oportunidad de sumergirme en la belleza del otoño natural me hizo buscar a Dios y preguntarme por qué la tierra es tan hermosa mientras se dirige al letargo. Él me ha asegurado que todos necesitamos tiempos de descanso. Y, mientras nos preparamos para ese descanso en Él, Él nos encuentra tan hermosos como cuando lo perseguimos activamente. Si durante nuestros veranos lo hemos atesorado, almacenado Su Palabra dentro de nosotros, clamado por entendimiento y lo hemos buscado como un tesoro escondido, entonces en otoño obtendremos la sabiduría, el conocimiento y el entendimiento que necesitamos para sustentarnos durante el invierno.

We find a picture of winter in Psalm 63:1, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” In the winter we wonder where God is and do not find that which quenches our thirst.

Psalm 63:2-3 illustrates what sustains us, “To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.”

We are sustained in the Winter by what we experienced in the Summer, where we devoured God’s word and spent much time in prayer, being nourished and growing.  Then we will make it through the Winter with praise.

If we want true rest in the Winter, being well nourished during the time of rest, during the Summer take in more than just the minimum of God’s Word, Spirit and guidance in order to have excess through the Winters. We must not treat our times of prayer and devotion as tasks to check off our to-do lists. But develop a true hunger for His Word and make time to devour it and thoroughly study it as He directs.

During the Winter, continue to seek God by faith, standing on the Word you feasted upon in the Summer.  Remember that it is God who works in you to energize you and create in you the power and desire to do His will (Philippians 2:13).  When you are fully rested, and your faith has been strengthened, you will find growth, renewal, and new life as He calls you and feeds you again in the Spring.

Así como los árboles comienzan a prepararse en la primavera para el invierno, recuerde que en su primavera y verano espiritual debe prepararse para su invierno espiritual. Así podrá alejar el desánimo durante su invierno espiritual. Podrá esperar en el Señor y ser valiente mientras Dios fortalece su corazón (Salmos 27:14).