Fall Equinox, 2021

 

He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. (Psalm 104:19 ESV).

 

The first day of fall, or equinox, in the Northern Hemisphere is September 22nd this year. At 3:20 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, Earth’s annual trip around the sun hits the milestone we use to separate our seasons: The sun crosses over the equator to the southern half of the planet. For the next six months, the Northern Hemisphere will be getting less direct light from our star, and it will get chillier by the week. The word equinox is Latin for “equal night,” and it’s the date when, in most places on Earth, the daylight lasts just about as long as the nighttime. It marks the midpoint between the summer solstice in June when Northern Hemisphere days are their longest (up to 24 hours without the sun setting in the polar regions) and the long, dark nights of the winter solstice in December when the sun never rises in the polar regions.

 

Where we live (North Central Texas), this means almost nothing in the changing of the leaves or the temperatures of the day. However, this year we did see quite a contrast since Monday’s high ambient temperature was 103 degrees and today the forecast is a high of 82 degrees. We’ll see how close the weatherman is in the forecast, though it does feel cooler. Some of the foliage is beginning to change color, though we don’t have the varied colors of some of the other areas containing more hardwoods. Even when the trees begin to change, it lasts for a very short period of time until they die and fall to the ground. The key to it all is the amount of sun we get being closer to the equator than some of our northern neighbors.

 

The principle I want to draw your attention to is that which is found in our reading today. The psalmist declares that this is all God’s design. In fact, he uses this truth to call the people of Israel to a time of praise and celebration. Later in this psalm, he says:

 

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. (Psalm 104:31-34 ESV).

 

So, regardless of what the colors of the trees “say,” the days are telling us that God is truly in control. That brings me great comfort and assurance! I hope it does for you as well!