The fall harvest is upon us. The grapes are being harvested in the vineyards of Northern California. The feast of Sukkot will commence at the end of this month. All of this reminds me of the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. The God of growth the God of fruitfulness.
The steadfast love of God is the beginning of all life. He is life-creating. He holds all things in being. The steadfast love of God bears the fruit of life abundant in the life of His faithful who trust in Him. We give thanks to Him for He is the provider and provision.
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Psalm 52.8-9
I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
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It is the presence of God that, without cessation, draws the whole creation from the abyss of its own nothingness above which his omnipotence holds it suspended, lest of its own weight it should fall back therein; and serves as the mortar and bond of connection which holds it together in order that all that it has of its creator should not waste and flow away like water that is not kept in its channel.
God in the heavens is more my heaven than the heavens themselves; in the sun he is more my light than the sun; in the air he is more my air than the air that I breathe sensibly. He works in me all that I am, all that I see, all that I do or can do, as most intimate, most present, and most immanent in me.
Louis Chardon (1595-1651 French Dominican mystic and theologian), taken from The Time of the Spirit: Readings Through the Christian Year
