There’s something beautiful about October here in Berrien Springs. Before the winter grey sets in, the colors of campus glow and the familiar crispness of fall returns. Life at the University has found its mid-semester rhythm. The rush of new beginnings has quieted, yet the year ahead still stretches wide with unknowns.

For our Pioneer Memorial Church community, our students, faculty, staff, and neighbors alike, October is a season of transition. Classes intensify, daylight shortens, and the pace of life increases “in between” seasons and holidays. It often feels relentless. But even in those moments God invites us to notice the sacredness of change.

The trees that surround us on campus are preaching their annual sermon again

Letting go can be holy. Presence can be healing. New growth can look like loss.

Each falling leaf reminds us that surrender is not the same as loss, sometimes, it’s trust. The trees don’t mourn the loss of summer and the arrival of winter (although, I usually do). Those trees are the process that brings new life in the spring. Likewise, we’re called to trust that God is working even when things feel uncertain, unfinished, or incomplete.

The psalmist reminds us in every moment, in every season, and in every transition

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble… Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:1; 10

Stillness doesn’t mean stopping everything. It means learning to rest in the protecting, refuge of God’s presence. It means to surrender the old and wait for new growth when the next season arrives. Whether you’re a student adjusting to a new chapter, a professor navigating the ever-increasing load placed on you, or a family balancing a new reality you weren’t expecting. The sermon of the trees provides you the same invitation

“Trust Me here, be still in my presence. This new season is not one to be feared but welcomed as an opportunity to see how I will show up in your life” - God

Faith has always been a journey through change. The patriarchs and Israelites wandered to a new home. Ruth followed a promise into a new land. The disciples learned to walk with Jesus one uncertain step at a time. In every story, God was faithful not because the path was clear, but because His presence was constant.

And even when things feel incomplete,when prayers haven’t yet been answered, God is quietly bringing about His good work. He is forming something in us that often can’t be seen until later.

So as the leaves fall and our routines settle, perhaps God is inviting us to release what we’ve been holding too tightly. This season is an open invitation to sit in his presence. This season is a reminder that

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” Ecclesiastes 3:1

So take a walk through campus this week. Breathe deeply, and remember, the same God who paints the leaves in October and knows each one that falls to the ground is the One who is faithfully shaping your story, one season at a time.

In your season of letting go and resting in his presence God is still completing His good work in you.

1. Where in your life right now do things feel unfinished or uncertain?
2. How do you think God is at work in those places?
3. What might it look like this month to “let go” of something and trust that God is still completing a good work in you?