Hinge Time

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

September always feels to me to be a new beginning. It marks time like a turning hinge, from summer to fall, from then to now, and from now to “what now?”

September’s cool weather reminds me of one memorable day back in 1982. We lived in Maine on a farm. We had a new baby, our first child, and we were in transition. I was about to take a new job and we would soon be moving to a new state.

It was Labor Day weekend, and my Dad and his wife Virginia (my mother died in 1967) had come up to see the new grandchild.

That night we went down the road to the next small town to eat, nothing fancy, but good Maine summer fare: steamers, lobster, sugar and butter corn, some blueberry pie.

Driving home I noticed a spectacular display of the Northern Lights. When we arrived we took some lawn chairs and sat silently in the dark for an hour, watching this extraordinary display of God’s grandeur. I have never seen anything like it, before or since.

I took it all in, the sky, my family, my wife and new child. Life was good if a bit uncertain. That day was a hinge time for me.

It was my Dad’s last September for he died the next July. These rare moments God gives us when life seems especially good are to be embraced and remembered. Like this great September weather they only last so long.

Prayer

For the gift of life and the promise of eternal life, we give you thanks, O God.

About the Author
Richard L. Floyd is Pastor Emeritus of First Church of Christ (UCC) in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. A writer and author, his most recent publications are Romans, Parts 1 and 2 (with Michael S. Bennett), new titles in the “Listen Up!” Bible Study Series. He blogs at richardlfloyd.com.