Happy 1st Day of Fall

I love this picture of us in Fall 2004 after a Packers' Game in Green Bay, WI

As I was watching a bird fly into the woods yesterday, I noticed that the Virginia Creeper is already turning red. The days still feel like summer, but the evenings are a reminder of what is to come. I have only begun to appreciate fall in the last few years, now I think it is becoming one of my favorite seasons.

As the Today Show greeted everyone with a "Happy 1st Day of Fall", I will admit that the first thing that popped in my head was..."6 more months until Spring!" I know what we will face until March. I've been through 140 Seasons in my life so far, I'm becoming an expert on our seasons!

I was just talking to a friend who moved to Texas and misses our beautiful weather this time of year. She actually misses the seasons - the winters even!

I was thinking about how quickly I was discounting Fall and Winter. Most of us seem to enjoy the warmer, or cooler months, but don't really look forward to the bitter cold that is coming. This is also true of our lives. We are so quick to despise the Winter...but the winter is necessary for a productive, beautiful Spring. Every season in our life is necessary if we want what has been planted to continue to grow. Marriage, Friendships, Jobs, Parenting...you name it. On days in Winter when the atmosphere may seem cold and quiet - the days you think God is not listening, He may seem as if He is not there, but really, there are things working deep inside, hopefully growing, so that when the Spring time comes around again, the fruit will be bigger, and hopefully will have multiplied.

Seasons are necessary in all aspects of life...change is necessary for growth and movement. Not only do I look forward to fun boots and warm sweaters, I look forward to seeing what God has for the next phase of our lives. I know it will be good. Different, but good.

From The Message Bible (Great Translation, since we know the other so well!) Ecc. 3:

"There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

You may be in your "winter" right now, and if you are, listen to what God is speaking to you deep inside, these trials will eventually end. If this is your summer....hold on, best prepare, because winter is on your doorstep. John 16:33 "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world"

Here's praying for a beautiful loooong Fall, and very short Winter....