… As Busy As Ever?

FRI., OCT. 31, 1997, 6:26 AM
FARM, STUDY

This is the Autumn season, and it seems as though every day brings changes in the color of leaves, in preparation for their leaving the trees and covering the ground. As My servant Bernie has said, the green is a coverup… now they can show forth their true colors. The green has been good… and steady… a fine color for summer and early Fall. But now, before death, the leaves thrill you with their colors and combinations thereof.

This is My natural world that I describe. I have made it both beautiful and functional, in this part of My earth. You wouldn’t think of cutting down this magnificent tree before you, or the one with the golden leaves to your left, but there is a big, old, Scotch pine along your road whose life is gone, but still has energy to share, as it burns in your fireplace. A tree has continuing life, but a seasonal growth, and then a dying, of leaves. The tree has some beauty of its own, in trunk and branches (which you’ll see by next month), but has more as it displays its seasonal leaves.

You are in the autumn of this earth life. There still is time for you to display your array of colors and then “fall as the leaves do fall”. I’m trying to guide you into busyness that shall be just right for this season of change. For example, I guided you to appreciate the warm, beautiful day on Wednesday and to come back here and “be out in it” on this fine place. Thus, you were busy being “not busy”, giving up the moving task for the joy of an autumn afternoon in this less structured part of My world.

It looks as though you will still have ties with your Department and some students. Maintain these as long as it seems right to do so. Take time to talk with individuals. Be as good an example as you can be of the old retiree, one displaying health in unique ways. Oh, you needn’t “try hard”, but just be aware of this role that now is yours.

As you talked yesterday about the School Health Education Study you thought of Elena and all that she contributed to the Study itself and to the lives of each of you on that team. She cannot now be the model of good health that she wants to be, and so she retires from the active scene that you still are in. You know this could happen to you, too, and so I say be active and vibrant as long as you can. Prolong the autumn. Be as “brightly colored” as you can be before you fall.

The Newsletter, at least your part of it, is finished for this month, and it wasn’t as much of a chore as you anticipated. You considered being a bit more “radical” than you have been of late, but, from My perspective, for a wrong reason. You were thinking of arousing negative comments which could “cause” you to give up this task, which does seem a bit onerous at times. I say… go ahead and be a bit more “radical”, but because you want to show your wonderful autumn colors rather than just “being a green tree”, among other green trees. This is your opportunity to “speak to the congregation” without being on an official Board. Go ahead and use it, defending it as your right as the perennial Editor.

So… yes, I want you to be busy, but within the new rhythm We are developing together for you. Be busy just appreciating beautiful sights, beautiful music, stimulating words. Worry less about wasting time, but still make assessments, seeking the best balance for a day… for a week… for your life now, the “rest of it”.