It’s a crisp morning here at the Turkeyhen Run Road farm. September still, yet the air says “get ready, things are about to change.” My farmer looks out the deck door at the thermometer and I know he’s thinking “time to pull out the long johns.” I’m thinking “Praise God! It’s cooling off.” One of my questions I think I’ll ask on the other side, “Lord, why do opposites attract?” Sometimes it can be annoying.

Fall has always been a time to get back to learning for me, even though we should never stop trying to gain knowledge, most of us take a break over the summer. When Fall leads into Winter, we spend more time indoors as the weather is a little more unpredictable and the sunlit hours are fewer.

I am in the autumn of my life. At sixty I know my moods are a lot more unpredictable, my sunshine moments are fewer and I really need to focus on renewal so I don’t become a grumpy old lady that others dread having around. I need to remind myself that the only way to keep going in a cheerful direction is by doing all I can to keep learning from the greatest Teacher, The Holy Spirit and from the greatest Book, The Bible.

The truth is, it doesn’t really matter where you are in the seasons of life. If you ever think for one moment that you’re okay to just stop where you are, that learning new things is not important, you will become a woman that finds difficulty in many areas of her life.

Colossians 3:10 tells us that we get renewed by knowledge and God’s best plan for renewal is to obtain knowledge from the One who created us and knows us best. He doesn’t need to study us, He made us. We need to study Him through His Word to be renewed. What better reward for the effort of renewal than to be a better reflection of His image.

In Genesis, the very beginning of mankind, The Bible says in verse 26, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” That is the image we had when our Triune God first made us. After the fall of man, we messed up that image with sin. In order to be restored and renewed, we need to be re-born. This happens at salvation and from there we need to keep growing by learning and becoming all we were created to be.

If you ever think for one moment that you’re okay to just stop where you are, that learning new things is not important, you will become a woman that finds difficulty in many areas of her life.

Dear sister, if you are feeling stuck, don’t become stagnant. Learn something new today from His Word. Write it down, put it where you can see it throughout the day, record it on your phone or use whatever works best for you and I guarantee you the Holy Spirit will do the rest. John 14 says in verse 26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” Our job, read the Word, His job, teach it into our lives and renew us. That’s a promise that gives me hope, how about you?