Fall hues, autumnal blues

I've always loved fall. For one thing, T and I got married in our backyard under a beautiful red maple on October 29, ten years ago. Each year I look forward to fall leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the colors, the smells and the traditions that go with them. I love how the sky shifts one day from robin's egg to azure. How the mornings are cooler and the evenings fall a little sooner. I look forward to climbing in bed under a pile of covers or pulling a warm wool sweater over my head on a frosty morning.

But lately, fall makes me sad. I can't put my finger on exactly why. I think it's a sense of sand spilling through the hourglass, the way that Dorothy watched her life slipping away in the Wicked Witch's tower. Time is moving relentlessly forward and for so long I've only wished that it would slow. Now, while my family is healthy and intact, while T and I are employed, while we're looking forward to a vacation. While I'm wondering if the apples are ready at Vaughn's and how to make the perfect pie crust.

I guess I just need to shake it off and remember there are blessings in every season...

Every Season
Nichole Nordeman

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You
In children's games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and what's to come
You are autumn

And everything in time and under heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice you
When branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season's change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring