I suppose that there are certain moods that go along with certain seasons. Autumn probably should be a conservative season, when the focus is on preparation for winter. There are always a lot of chores that need to be done. Storm windows need to be washed. The camper needs to be winterized. The garden needs to be mulched in for next spring. Autumn is a good time for weed control in the lawn. There are always lots of painting and trimming jobs that need to be completed. The mower and other summer tools should have the gas drained and be put to bed for winter. The snowblower needs a tune up and an oil change. Summer toys need to be stores and the list goes on and on.

But there is a certain exuberance about autumn that encourages a bit of a fling. The weather is inviting for hiking and paddling and getting out. There is a sense that the good weather ought to be enjoyed. The traffic is a bit lighter in the hills with summer tourists back at their homes and the roads invite a trip to look at the fall colors. And this year the colors have burst forth with their own exuberance and enthusiasm that makes us want to follow suit.

I suppose that the seasons of one’s life ought to have their own moods as well. It might be accurate to describe me as a person in the autumn of my life. This probably ought to be the season for saving for retirement, making sure that the debts are all paid off, thinking about investments and equity and making plans for the future. It probably ought to be a season of preparing for the next phase of my life and thinking a bit about my legacy, if indeed there is any such thing in the contemporary church. However my thoughts seem to turn to adventures. It seems like I may have a few of them still in my and now, while my health is good and my stamina is strong seems like a good time for another paddle down the whitewater or a really big road trip to someplace that I have not yet visited. I don’t think I’m done with international travel quite yet and it might be a good time to think of a few more trips.

Maybe we are simply designed to be a bit out of step with the seasons. Even though we are aware of the obligations and have an idea of what is sensible, there is a part of us that wants to defy convention and stand out. Maybe it is part of our very nature to want to cram in one more adventure and to throw caution to the wind one more time.

But I was raised on the tale of the ant and the grasshopper. I have been sternly warned by my elders about the downfall that accompanies the lazy life. When there is work to be done, I need to get at it. And it pays to be prudent and to remember that the seasons change and winter is coming. The failure to gather sufficient stores will result in hunger before you know it.

Of course I also grew up along the river. Ants make lousy bait regardless of the season. Floating a grasshopper on a hook down the river is the perfect way to catch a big trout this time of the year. Despite the lessons and parables I was taught, there is a part of me that wants to live in a world with both grasshoppers and ants. Sometimes I think I am more like the grasshopper than the ant.

I know the moral: “It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.” I also know that we never know exactly when the days of necessity will come and we never quite know how much preparation will be required.

After all, even as a kid I knew that despite the fable, in the real world we never ran out of either ants or grasshoppers. Somehow the grasshoppers were not only surviving winter - they were thriving. There is a version of the story where the ant helps the grasshopper just enough for the grasshopper to survive and the grasshopper learns his lesson and saves up plenty for the next summer. I think that waters down the original fable and I’m not sure that the grasshopper would remember the lesson when the lazy days of summer returned.

I’m not even sure that we are correct in assuming that ants work harder than grasshoppers. Just because ants are always carrying things that are bigger than they are, grasshoppers fly and make sweet music and find enough to eat all summer long.

Perhaps I am a grasshopper who just can’t learn his lesson. I know the concept of playing it safe, minimizing risk and being prudent for the future. I have all of the knowledge and information that is needed. It is just that I can always think of one more adventure, one more way to avoid the usual. I’ve been known to go paddling when the deck needs to be stained and the garage needs to be cleaned. I’ve been known to start another boat project when I know full well that I have too many boats and the thing I should be doing is getting rid of boats, not acquiring more.

Maybe, like the grasshopper in the story, I just think summer is going to last a little longer. The bright colors and the warm sunshine have a way of making one feel complacent. Maybe the blessing of good health in this season of my life is lulling me into thinking that I will always be healthy despite the clear evidence that I am not immune to any of the ailments that come with age.

Still, the exercise is good for me and the colors invite me to take a closer look.

Knowing that winter is coming makes the glories of autumn all the more inviting.

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