Praying with a Painting: Embracing the season you’re in

My daughter loves autumn. She doesn’t enjoy heat and doesn’t love the beach like I do, so for her, the changing leaves don’t instill in her a sense of dread. I used to love fall with the gorgeous colors especially in the upper Midwest in the States, but now autumn for me means shorter and shorter days and the bone-chilling cold that the damp atmosphere of England can bring.

What does this season mean to you? How could you offer all of your feelings about it to God? Perhaps today you might want to take a walk, taking in the sights and sounds around you, asking God to reveal himself to you as you do. What might he be welcoming you to relinquish in this season?

For my friends in the Southern hemisphere, what things might God be awakening in you as you enter Spring?

You could also take some time to pray with this lovely painting by my dad. Let your eye move around it, asking God to lead you in prayer. You might want to ponder a passage of Scripture as you do so, such as one of these:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:33–34, NIV).

In [God’s] hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind (Job 12:10, NIV).