PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

October 25, 2023

FALL LEAVES

It is that time of year to rake leaves.  This year the city has curb-side leaf pick-up on our street on October 17^th, October 24^th, November 5^th, November 6^th, and November 15^th.  The city sent the pick-up schedule with my October water/sewage bill.  They should have sent a copy to the trees which contribute leaves to my yard.  The trees seem to be working on an entirely different schedule.

The trees in the median across from our house and a maple tree in the neighbor’s yard supplied enough leaves in my yard for a small pile for the October 17^th pick-up.  My maple tree in the backyard did not even give any signs of changing color.  My crab apple made a small contribution.

October 24^th I had nothing to contribute.  However, I had bagged some leaves and left them out for yard waste pick-up on the 21^st.  November 5^th I had my fair share of leaves.  The trees in the median as well as the neighbor’s maple were about finished and my crab apple was well along with dropping its leaves.  Every day my maple drops a few more leaves.  But there are many more to go!

Hopefully, most of the leaves will be down for the November 15^th pick-up.  If previous experience is any indicator I will be bagging and putting out oak leaves well into 2020.

All the city can do in making out their curb-side leaf pick-up is go by previous history.  Unfortunately the trees do not follow a schedule which can be predicted several months in advance.  When they drop their leaves is influenced by the type of tree, amount of daylight, temperature and stress.  At least two of these factors change from year to year.

The uncertainty about forecasting each year a time table for collecting the fall leaves is a paradigm of the difficulty in accurately predicting the future in general.  Past experiences give us some indication of what might happen.  Never-the-less they can never give us a hundred percent certainty of what will happen.  Much of what we deal with in life is based on probabilities not certainties.  There is a high probability that I will gather leaves every fall.  The probability of exactly when is somewhat less predictable.

How do we cope in a world filled with uncertainties?  I once had a church member who refused possible surgery because he read the permission sheet which was given him to sign included a list of possible things that might go wrong.  The chances of something bad happening were far less than the chances that he would have serious problems with the surgery.  Everything we do in life involves probabilities of something negative taking place.  We can let them overwhelm and cause us to live in fear and trembling.  Or we can take precautions which mitigate them happening and move forward with courage and confidence.

Paul ends the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians, the love chapter, with the following affirmation:  “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three: and the greatest of these is love.” (I Cor. 13:13)  In an uncertain and somewhat unpredictable world here are three things on which we can count in season and out.  One thing upon which we can put our faith and have hope for the future  is the eternal love of God and His promise that He will be with us during our days under the sun and afterwards.

(This article was originally published November 17, 2019.  Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)