The leaves sure have been beautiful this week. Even with the drought we had this year, God has managed to fill our eyes with His beauty!! Of course this is a process due to the decrease of sunlight present as the days grow shorter as scientist would inform us, but no, this is due to God’s master plan. He can bring beauty out of change! Our lives are constantly changing and our time here is growing so ever short!
But it is also the beginning of what I refer to as the blah months of the year. Cold weather and a lot less sunshine with grey skies, as a season of dormition comes upon things that need warmth and light. Just as our lives have times of vigor and vibrance, so too does our mind and body need a time of rest, time to re-center and regroup. A time to shake off the worldly demons that have latched onto our sleeves! Sunday is supposed to be that day for us every week of the year, and our Sabbath day begins Saturday evening with our prep work of prayer, here at the church. What in the WORLD is more important?
St. John of Kronstadt reminds us: “Your Lord is Love: love Him and in Him all men, as His children in Christ. Your Lord is a fire: do not let your heart be cold, but burn with faith and love. Your Lord is light: do not walk in darkness of mind, without reasoning or understanding, or without faith.”
When we get so busy that we don’t have time for prayer, time for almsgiving and helping our neighbor, time to attend church and time to repent, we have chosen to live in blah time, a time where darkness seeps in and smothers out most of our light. If this is allowed to take root, the evil one entices us into a life of self-love and pride; a life of blah! The prophet Jeremiah enlightens us with these words: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) But for His plan to work, we have to follow the teachings of the church!
All the long hours we work and the time we spend securing our financial future will not save you! Why be so busy storing up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal? (Matt 6:19-21) Why spend so much of our time rotting away in the pleasures of the Earth instead of marinating in the salvific struggles and disciplines of the mighty church? Why “not love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us: that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” (1John 4:7-11)
And in that, as we “live through Him”, love brings beauty! And if we continually take inventory of our time and talent and deliberately chose our relationship with God as the most important part of our existence, our love will mature and our lives will slowly change into a radiant vibrant color that transcends this earth. Truly a sight to see!
Let me end with these prayerful words from St. Ephraim: “Make me whole, O Lord, and I will become whole! O only wise and merciful Physician, I beseech Thy benevolence: heal the wounds of my soul and enlighten the eyes of my mind that I may understand my place in Thine eternal design! And inasmuch as my heart and mind have been disfigured, may Thy grace repair them, for it is as true salt.” (Grant Grace to Satisfy All Needs (Saint Ephraim the Syrian)
Fr. Gabriel Weller 11-1-2026
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