Tag Archives: autumn

Now Gather the Dark and Gloomy Clouds of Winter

Us country folks that love the Lord have gold that wealthy men can only dream about!

Today looks to be the first actual day of fall. We’ve had temps in the 60s and 70s almost every day till now, but the high today might not get out of the thirties. Summer is definitely coming to a close, but the way our world is rapidly shaping up to come to some staggering changes that aren’t related to the changing seasons. I firmly believe this is going to be a surprising and sobering change for many of us.

I just watched a video produced by one of the alarmist commentators trying to wake people up about how far down the rabbit hole the would-be controllers of society have gone in their attempts to gain control of everything. Were I not a fervent believer in the absolute power of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, I might even be afraid. These guys have installed software that can monitor everything – they even have things that can monitor communications that are supposed to be encrypted by grabbing it before you hit the “send” button, which of course is in it’s raw and unencrypted form because it doesn’t get encrypted until it hits the ethosphere. There’s so much more.

This is all the work of Satan, the ancient enemy of God and those of us He has created in His image who follow in the steps of Jesus Christ. Satan has had thousands of years to concoct these plans, which only today are we seeing come to fruition, and to be honest, lots of Christians are being taken by surprise, but if you stop and consider the reality of what we are up against, you shouldn’t be.

I’m doing this post with the apprehension that Satan’s plan is about to be finished on this earth for better or worse. Worse, absolutely for all who are not under the protection of the mighty hand of God, even though some appear to believe that things are happening which reveal some of the enemy’s plots and that with that knowledge, humanity can somehow defeat him. This is an erroneous assumption and the apparent revelation of his presumed scheme is a big part of the deception. For instance, everyone sees Zionism seemingly coming apart, especially here in America, and therefore believe and it will be upended and when it is overthrown things can get better. If the yoke of Zionism and its attendant evils, such as genocide, such as its billionaire control of the American government will be taken away, then America will regain control of government decisions, foreign policy, banks, etc., and indeed this seems to be happening, but don’t get too excited. Satan is likely demonstrating that he is finished using the Zionists, and their part of the plot is finished, and he certainly has no qualms about throwing those guys who he brought to power under the bus in order to emphasize his deception.

There will be a new twist, as there always is, but Satan’s new approach this time will be to deceptively go after Christians. He will use this new universal repulsion of Zionism to fester into hatred of the woman referenced in Revelation, count on it. Jesus Christ is his enemy – not Buddha, not Mohammed, not the “Christian” Zionist churches – they are all right where he wants them and pose no threat to his plans. The dragon will come after the woman, which for those who don’t already know it, is Jesus’ church. [Revelation 12:13,17]: “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.” [17]: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” In all of this, the Christian must be careful that the hatred for the Zionist people that Satan is fomenting doesn’t find its way into your heart – that’s also an intentional part of the plan.

I did a post a while back about what the great war of the Angels must have been like: Epic Battles for Eternity – Folk Potpourri. I tried to explain what I imagined the great and destructive conflagration might have looked like – a great and mighty war which ended in the rebalancing of all creation. The end result was that Satan was cast out of Heaven, an event which itself must have been a cosmic earthquake, and which set the course of events for the ensuing history of the earthly and the Spiritual world. These events were and are completely guided (as far as humans are concerned) by the burning hatred for all things and entities Godly by the now earthbound dragon. He obviously did not like losing his place, high up in the elite ranks of God’s paradise, and in his rage, he set about trying to destroy God’s creation, which as of the last couple of thousand years, has been under the stewardship of Jesus Christ and His followers.

Satan is indeed blinded by rage, he doesn’t possess Godly wisdom, but he isn’t without knowledge. He well understands the desires and lusts of men – the obvious chaos America is in right now as a result of men’s moral weakness, aka the Epstein saga, being front and center evidence of Satan’s machinations. He also understands men’s weakness for wealth and fame. Again – look at the political situation in the US. One thing I don’t believe most folks realize is the depth of Satan’s outright hatred of everyone – even his most loyal followers. He doesn’t mind throwing the synagogue under the bus, in fact, I believe he delights in it. He most likely sees them as getting what they deserve for claiming the title of God’s chosen – albeit falsely – and exacts a big part of his revenge on them.

If Satan is such a devious and evil entity that he has no problem turning on his loyal followers, just imagine what he would like to do to those of us who follow his most hated enemy! That would be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Christians have been beheaded, thrown to hungry lions, burned at the stake, and I’m sure dealt similarly with in ways we don’t even know about down through the years. But he has never defeated one of them! Being expelled from this world of evil and sent to the great Paradise where the Lord reigns is not defeat by any stretch. Jesus’ true people understand this and are thusly unafraid of Satan. It is the people who Satan is NOT coming after that should be afraid, for after this brief stint of human existence, the real vengeance will occur, and it will last forever! And it will be God’s vengeance, a truly terrible and dreaded situation indeed.

We might be facing a nuclear holocaust, super volcanoes may erupt, 3I Atlas might be full of marauding aliens, who knows what kind of celebration Satan has in store for his great departure into the lake of fire? What we need to be concerned is that we won’t follow him there. The ONLY people on this earth right now who have no need to fear all of the possible upcoming catastrophes are those who love the Lord and who follow our great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and to y’all I say Hang in There! [Matthew 10:28]; “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” If all you can grab is the hem of His garment, grab it – and hang on with all you’re worth, it’ll be worth it in the end.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

Song of Autumn in the Ozarks

Readers of Folkpotpourri know well enough how the autumn affects this writer, so kick back and enjoy (hopefully) some seasonal thoughts from the late October Ozarks.

As new dawn ripens grey through rain-soaked autumnal branches sway silently within great oaken copses, brown acorns fly across ocher carpets of fallen leaves, carried by determined squirrels to hiding places in secretive locations known only to them. The irascible crow speaks in his ebony tongue of approaching winds with icy fingers in the offing. Grey, solemn fog blankets the hollow, weaving shrouds of stories told in northern climes among the innocence of greenery yet upon watchful oak trees. Branches and boughs who have yet to be warned of the seasonal evolution, thus still cloaked in summer apparel are taken aback at the tall hickories who have indeed heard the rumor of autumn and now speak in extravagant golden verses of their own. Indeed, the oaks are still green, but whispers can now be heard among their great boughs of an imminent change in the air – of brown and copper gilded leaves among their kind.

The loudest dirges of the forest of late are black gum trees who once more don their extravagant scarlet dress and sing crimson dirges of colder times to come. Poison ivy vines clinging tightly to the yet verdant white oak trees and harmonize with the ornate gum in their own composition of color of autumn song. The dry streambed of the placid south hollow begins now to come dampened with ever searching raindrops, soon to be murmuring her much practiced and timely addition to the cacophony of this year’s ringing symphony of fall.

A blackberry stalk with withered leaves stands sadly along the trail, despondent at the approach of another autumn and showing copper and red colors of his plight upon the carpet of fallen grasses. His task now will be to keep his composure and endure until warmer days of bees and flowers when he can make his own blossoms. Ragged remnants of spider webs whose creators have now retired into dark shelters of fallen decay, undulate and glisten with clinging moisture from the incessant grim fog.

The blue jay can be heard now offering his gratitude for abundant juniper berries as he flits from branch to branch; tiny chickadees crowd among dancing ocher grasses and shrubs seeking minute morsels of seed. Thistles stand in overgrown fields holding court and waving darkened leaves while singing in the wet breeze – a song heard mostly by the goldfinches and indigo buntings, who crowd among them and harken to their oratory for which they find reward of sustenance. The Creator once more provides for all.

On this foggy, silent morning of grey, which creeps among the cattails and willow boughs, and betides the arrival of a new season of cold and damp, hummingbirds have left for more amenable climes. The red bird has chosen, as always, to remain among the trees and shrubs and continue their songs. They know this world needs their music through the cold season ahead. All of God’s creatures have made their choices of how they will endure – many will not, but when spring returns, there will be new ones to take their places.

Happy Autumn y’all and keep yourselves warm.

God bless all.

MK

In Anticipation of Wondrous New Autumn Colors

(We’re not there yet, so pics in this post are from past autumns, in order to show why the anxiety…)

As early September sumac comes crimson gilded, as great flocks of snow geese anxiously ponder mild climes of distant Cajun wetlands whence to introduce another year’s eager hatchlings, soft northern breezes waft among great and somber platoons of red oak, still clad in summer wear. All flora of Ozark woodland doubtless consider for the moment their abundant wardrobes for another autumnal gala, yet to be determined amongst myriad compositions of scarlet, golden, and copper. The black gum tree, always one of the most impatient to don her maroon autumn apparel, shudder in anticipation of icier winds. Rivulets of deep green lichen silently flow over and among powdery, arid rocks of long-desiccated creek beds which themselves patiently await expected rains of amber October and beyond.

Gentle droughts of unfamiliar coolness now drift in determined command of late summer leaden skies, soon to be the order of the day throughout watchful hillsides. Fewer birdsongs of yesterday’s flowery summer are to be heard now. On a lovely poem of lazy winding roadside, verses of mottled burgundy sumac are punctuated by new traces of goldenrod gently swaying on fresh north wind pouring gently into and onto a blissful landscape, joyfully abiding the frequent darts of wrens and nuthatches into their serenity.

At no other time in the life of man has the Creator taken greater opportunity to reveal to His creation the very essence of His Majesty than in the orchestrated chaos of the woodland autumn. Under ever variegated greys in the strata of September heavens, He soon will begin once more to adorn this magnificent world of hickory and oaken hills with hues that only can be drawn from His incomparable pallete, and this for the earthy delight of His created, be they feathered or furred, but most especially for mankind to whom He assigned stewardship of it all. Blessed indeed is he to whom God has given an eye to duly appreciate and delight in the beauty of this serendipitous spectacle of color and an ear to hear the late summer woodland dirges of cicada or perhaps a joyous conversation between a monogamous cardinal and spouse now finished with their burdensome task of attending raspy fledglings.

A dwindling few apples stubbornly cling to summer trees tempting young raccoons on damp and cool nights to gorge in late summer feasts. Oaks of varied kinds have produced this year’s acorn crop, a pursuit no doubt appreciated by the soon to be engaged whitetail deer. Antlers soon will be burdened with sagging velvet in various stages of riddance. Anxious squirrels navigate fallen trees and carpets of last year’s leaves searching out or excavating satisfactory caches for abundant hickory nuts and acorns. Hawthorn berries are coming ripe in ebony tones on shrubs among the undergrowth and persimmons have already embarked on journeys of color transition from summer green to wrinkled destinations of pumpkin orange. Dogwoods, as always, are already ahead of other flora in this perennial race into fall colors, sporting loud coppery foliage interspersed with bright red berries.

The excitement of autumn’s approach grows perceptibly through the woodlands as a sword of lengthening shadows stab into the burdened heart of September as though it were a great dam futilely straining to hold back a soon to be torrent of roaring colors, but all who anticipate the resplendent deluge to come, though wholly imperceptible for now, understand it’s effort is to no avail. Fall will assuredly arrive, absent the Lord’s return – and we will once more revel in the ecstatic glory of her beauty. For now, we must endure with such patience as we can muster, another endless, peaceful September sunset hopelessly clinging to silent green hills.

Enjoy this autumn – the way things are going, our old world might not see many more.

MK

Anticipating the Ozark Autumn World

Little stream not far from our farm

This is the time of year that readers of folkpotpourri know to expect the psychological disorder which I call OCPA, obsessive, compulsive prose of autumn, to overtake this writer again. By now y’all know autumn’s my favorite time of the year, so far surpassing other seasons that it would be unfair to even compare them. I understand that I’d be hard-pressed to render a tribute with even a modicum of word smithery, but this is a free website after all, and everyone knows you get what you pay for, so just indulge me. Besides today is the last day of summer, so it’s technically not fall yet – things are just getting warmed up (to cool down). Anyways, we need something peaceful to think about with all the bad things going on in the world. Here goes:

Random early dogwood leaf

Fallow hickory breezes blow through silent dales as the Celestial palette again waxes encumbered neath thickening shades of pastel grown prepared to cloak brooding gum trees now grown weary of their verdant apparel of yesterday’s springtime blessing. Blissfully now the normally irascible crow cheers this scintillation of the whispered taste of autumn being offered, generous harbinger of the temperate weeks of summer’s wan from haze and endless days of imposing heat. As fall expires, however, this same cantankerous bird will be among the loudest of those carping of the cold.

Image result for free pic of crow in winter
Waiting for spring

Great white oaks undulate in joyful dance upon azure heavens as they beckon a north wind to bring forth splendid new autumn attire, eager to don whichever hue the Master has granted for what surely will become another fete of autumnal majesty, held but for another day, another week perhaps, but soon, nevertheless. The dogwood has already begun to loudly emerge from the sylvan dressing chamber, cloaked in another gown of magnificent copper and abundantly bespecled with crowds of bright red berries clinging to her laden branches.

Late summer dogwood getting changed – not quite dressed yet but beautiful nonetheless

Such is their eagerness to display this year’s boisterous scarlet, poison ivy wends among hickory tops, singing loudly their familiar, red-shaded aria to herald fall’s arrival. As his leaves become gilded with a tint of gold that only the Master artist could produce, the hickory patiently and silently awaits his turn to sing his fallow song – and sing he will, but anon as crisp wind flies upon the hills. Soon icy fingers shall grasp tender green branches intent upon splashing autumn colors on all.

These are from last year – scenes like this aren’t here just yet.

Halls of indescribable splendor will soon grace somber hills of misty silence, all decorated by the same Master whose unmatched attention to beauty and peaceful serenity of a perfectly decorated hillside compasses this sylvan world. The gaudy black gum and sumac are the appetizer, sufficient themselves to sate any hunger for magnificence, yet they only tantalize – fallow hickory and shades of red and rust of stately oaks, and the highly prized yellow and pastel orange of the maple are the main course. Thank God for the beauty He has bestowed upon us!

Maples adding their touches of color to the painting

He created this excellent world of color for our eyes to enjoy – then he created our eyes such that we can enjoy it!

Spring fed pond with late summer wildflowers

Enjoy autumn as y’all are able to get out, and may God bless all.

MK