Article September 21, 1981 Issue

Autumn leaves

[Original in German]

JEANNE MASCHKE

It is autumn. The leaves fall ceaselessly. No wind shakes them to the ground. The movement is natural, sure. Nature is said to be going to sleep; even the thought of death is voiced. The end of the light is mentioned. Melancholy wants to rise, as if something good were over.

Nothing of the sort is true! On the contrary! In front of our eyes a living renewal process is taking place. Clearing out, cleaning up, is going on. Space is being made for a further development, for new growth in the earth's continuity of life.

These thoughts crowd in on me as I walk through the rustling autumn leaves. But true creation is spiritual, forever complete, I muse. The Bible's spiritual account of creation and of its eternal, unchangeable harmony culminates in the words "God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."^{Gen. 1:31.} It was good and is good and will be good forever and ever! Nothing can be added to it. Creation is the expression, the reflection, of God, of harmonious, unending Being, in which dying and becoming have no place. And as we advance, we see this more and more clearly. "Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love,"^{Science and Health, p. 66.} Mrs. Eddy declares in Science and Health.