Autumn Reflections
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
—
Several years ago I had the privilege of leading the music for a revival in Jellico, Tennessee in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains near the Kentucky border.
My good friend, Dr. Chuck Summers was the Pastor of the First Baptist Church and I had a delightful week staying at the home of Chuck and his wife, Bonita, and leading in the services.
The revival services were in the evening, so Chuck and I had time during the day to explore the area. Chuck is a photographer par excellence! In fact, several of his images had graced the covers of some national and regional magazines.
At the time I was there, he was just completing work on the first of three books he would later publish on the seasons and the natural beauty of that scenic part of our country.
One particularly beautiful autumn day we made our way north to the Cumberland Falls State Park near Williamsburg, Kentucky.
Chuck liked to hike the trails near the falls and, of course, he had his camera and a backpack full of photography equipment to take photos along the way.
We stopped to photograph the falls from an overlook on a cliff downstream. Spectacular! Then we followed the trail to another, smaller falls, Eagle Falls, and Chuck took many more images from several different vantage points there.
It was a lot of fun being outdoors on such a refreshing autumn morning while watching an award-winning photographer at work.
Among the techniques of photography that I learned from Chuck is this: take a lot of images! He was using Kodak Kodachrome slide film at the time - 36 images per roll - and on this day I think I am correct in saying that he used four or five rolls of film.
That's a pretty expensive venture in that he had to buy the rolls of film plus pay to have them developed.
Chuck would say that out of each roll he might get one or two images worth including in his files of his best work. Now with digital photography the saying is, "pixels are cheap - take lots of images."
Good advice.
But I digress. Back to our story...
Chuck and I began to trek back toward the car but decided on a whim to take a short side trip to the stream above Eagle Falls. We didn't expect to see much, but we went anyway.
As we got close to the top of the falls, we could see the sun highlighting the brilliant colors of the fall leaves on the opposite shore. There were bright red Sugar Maples, deep orange Maples, Scarlat Sumac, rich red Black Gum, yellow Poplars, and so many more gorgeous colors painted against a perfectly clear blue autumn sky.
It was breathtaking!
Chuck got so excited. He began to shoot photo after photo. But not of the trees themselves. He took multiple images of their reflections in the pools of water.
The water moved at a slow pace over the pebbles and around the rocks in the stream. Occasionally, there were subtle cascades where the water would trickle down through the rocks with an ever so slight and tender ripple.
In the reflections of the water, you could see the best of what God had created: the water, the trees, the leaves, the sky - it was all there! Even the rocks and a few floating leaves added strength and beauty to the scene.
It occurred to me that we are to be like that stream reflecting all the best that God has created.
He wants us to reflect the image of Christ to the world around us. He wants others to see the qualities and character he has designed for us to show: Christ's love, kindness, compassion for the hurting, gentleness, acceptance, and peace.
These are the qualities that give evidence of Christ living within us. And in doing so, we glorify God.
There's an old hymn that says, "Let others see Jesus in you." A good thought.
So as we enjoy the rich colors and beauty of this autumn season, let's recommit ourselves to reflecting Christ in all that we do.
Mark Green
Pastor for Senior Adults & Youth and Children’s Music