Indian Run CC
  • About Us
    • WHAT WE BELIEVE
    • OUR STAFF
    • SERVICE TIMES
    • HISTORY
    • Contact
  • YOUTH
    • IRCC KiDs
    • DRIVEN YOUTH
    • Christmas Play 2019
    • Christmas Play 2020
    • Trunk or Treat 2020
    • East Canton Memorial Day Parade 2021
    • East Canton Rotary Festival 2021
    • Bolivar Strawberry Festival 2021
  • Ministries
    • WOMEN'S MINISTRY
    • Tulip Tea 2023 Registration
    • Community
  • Ministry Videos
    • Terry's Videos >
      • Finding Joy
      • Good Advice for Today
      • Depressing Times
      • What Sort Of People Ought We To Be
      • Advancing in Times Of Trouble
      • Lonely
  • Downloads
  • Blogs
    • Terry's Blog
  • SUPPORTED MISSIONS
  • Summer Events
  • Movers and Seekers

​

First Frost

10/19/2021

0 Comments

 
​October has long been my favorite month. I love the cool mornings and generally warmer afternoons. I love the colors – which, admittedly are a bit slow this year. I love the smells of Fall. I love the finishing up of the harvest. Granted – raking leaves is not my favorite chore but every silver lining exists on a cloud, I guess. And October is generally the month in which the first frost occurs. I never find myself cheering for the first frost on its own account exactly. I like Fall a lot better than Winter and I know how the beginning of frosts signals the shift from the one to the other. But the first frost portends a few other things as well. These days it signals the end of the mowing season. Again – if only it didn’t also signal the beginning of the raking season! But I have a grandson mowing my lawn for the first time in my life this year so my celebration at parking the mower for the last time in a calendar year is somewhat reduced. As a kid I knew the first frost meant we were soon going to have persimmon pudding. This was (and remains) a matter of some excitement. I love persimmon pudding. Some years before we left the parsonage and purchased our own home, I had planted several persimmon trees. When I planted them, they were twigs with a few root hairs on one end and a few leaf buds on the other. By the time we left they were past being saplings and turning into nice young trees. I saw from the road the other day that they are actually bearing fruit this year. I wonder if the new owner would accept a claim on the first fruits – after all – I planted the trees! Probably not. But whoever harvests and eats those persimmons, they won’t be fit to eat (my wife says persimmon pudding is never fit to eat – to each their own) until after the first frost. That’s just the way of persimmons. At the home we purchased I really don’t have room to start another persimmon grove. I did, however, build a couple of raised beds and planted, among other things, an experimental crop of salsify (oyster plant). I have never grown or eaten salsify before and am looking forward to a trial dish at a coming Sunday family dinner – after the first frost. Salsify is another plant that requires a frost to develop its distinctive flavor. I’ll let you know how all that goes – after the first frost. The first frost is the seasonal end of some things – ruining whatever tomatoes, peppers, etc. may still be out there. But it is the completion/perfection of other things like persimmons and salsify. It is no surprise that the changing of the seasons should have become a metaphor for life and death. I will add only this: death ruins the hopes of the world but completes/perfects the hopes of the saints. I find that God is good to me here and now. But I know the best things can’t come until after the frost.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Pastor and Author Terry Bailey, Senior Pastor of Indian Run Christian Church

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

I NEED PRAYER

Contact Us

Picture

Picture
  • About Us
    • WHAT WE BELIEVE
    • OUR STAFF
    • SERVICE TIMES
    • HISTORY
    • Contact
  • YOUTH
    • IRCC KiDs
    • DRIVEN YOUTH
    • Christmas Play 2019
    • Christmas Play 2020
    • Trunk or Treat 2020
    • East Canton Memorial Day Parade 2021
    • East Canton Rotary Festival 2021
    • Bolivar Strawberry Festival 2021
  • Ministries
    • WOMEN'S MINISTRY
    • Tulip Tea 2023 Registration
    • Community
  • Ministry Videos
    • Terry's Videos >
      • Finding Joy
      • Good Advice for Today
      • Depressing Times
      • What Sort Of People Ought We To Be
      • Advancing in Times Of Trouble
      • Lonely
  • Downloads
  • Blogs
    • Terry's Blog
  • SUPPORTED MISSIONS
  • Summer Events
  • Movers and Seekers