Fall is Here.... at Least in Dearing
The weather is changing. The temperature last night was in the low 40's out here in the country. That wasn't my only indictor though. My warm weather son, Russell, coming into my room this morning in his Northface long sleeved shirt, looking a little blue around the lips and asking if we could close all the windows was the best clue. Yes, it is fall and time for me to do my "seasonal thing". This week the house will be decorated with plump pumpkins, scarecrows, pots full of mums, and anything in the colors of red, yellow, orange, and brown. My fall quilts will be brought out, the summer dishes will be replaced with fall dishes, and my work center will be covered in stamps of acorns, leaves and sunflowers and papers of varying shades of browns, reds and golds.
This seasonal phenomenon has always puzzled my men..."So, honey...have you been shopping? Didn't know so much dinner could fit on a leaf shaped plate....what happened to my trout coffee mug?...no, oh no, I don't mind drinking out of a pumpkins mug..are these new? ...."Hey, honey...see you have started on a new quilt?! Is that the sun or sunflower? .....Acorns?..Well, looks to me like that color brown paper would do just fine...no, you think it is tooo brown...oh, yes that lighter brown looks better..oh, that color is not brown!?...that color is terra cotta..I would have never guessed!...Puzzled, oh yes, and they seem to stay that way!
The seasons for my men signal better fishing or less fishing, more yard work or less yard work, piling up loads of wood or not piling up loads of wood. For me, the change in seasons renew in me an appreciation for God our Creator, the Almighty One, who with one stroke of his hand covered the earth in colors of brilliant yellows, vibrant greens, shocking pinks, and soothing lavenders in spring and summer. Then with another stroke of His heavenly paint brush....shocking reds, deep oranges, bright yellows and strong browns dominate the landscape in the fall. Oh, and even here in the south, about once a year, he chooses to throw out the colors and whitewash the land making it, sometimes for more than a day or two, a white or iced wonderland.
The seasons, for me, also remind me of the love and caring of my Father. Just as the abundance of "babies" (birds, bunnies, squirrels) in the spring always amaze me so do the flocks of Canadian geese, flying in picture perfect formation overhead, knowing where they are going, and what they have to do. I can sit for hours watching the striped chipmunks scurrying around with their cheeks full of nuts, preparing automatically for the winter. Gone are the flutter of the hummingbirds, only to be replaced by an increasing of the sounds of our owl friends. On cool crisp evenings, the heavens are bursting with the twinkling of millions, upon millions of stars. The Almighty has taken such care with every single detail of heaven and earth....His way of reminding me of the care of every detail he knows and takes care of in my life!!
As much as I love the feel of the cool earth in my hands in the spring when planting starts, I also love and rejoice in the smell of holiday turkeys and pies baking, of the togetherness of cool nights spent under handmade quilts watching old movies by the flickering light of the fireplace. I can not help but praise His holy name as the leaves on the trees change colors and fall, leaving a carpet of red and yellow on the ground. A smile and "thank you Jesus", is on my lips as I place bold orange pumpkins and pots of red and yellow mums down the steps of the deck and by the door welcoming each and every visitor.
So, as I go about my "seasonal thing", part of which is reminding my husband that I have not been shopping...we have had those plates for years...it is not a new quilt, it is the one I have brought out every fall for the past four years...if you can make your son drink from the "pumpkin mug", then have at it, you will be off the hook(!), it is not about commercialism or secularism...it is about love, gratefulness, appreciation, joy. It is about being reminded to give my God, my Father, my Creator all the praise and honor and glory due to him. Let us all rejoice and be glad...Fall is here!!
...He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Isaiah 51:3
God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, "fall on the earth", so that all men may know His work. Job 37: 5-7
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor. For everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom: You are exalted as head over all. Now, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name. I Chronicles 29: 11, 13
This seasonal phenomenon has always puzzled my men..."So, honey...have you been shopping? Didn't know so much dinner could fit on a leaf shaped plate....what happened to my trout coffee mug?...no, oh no, I don't mind drinking out of a pumpkins mug..are these new? ...."Hey, honey...see you have started on a new quilt?! Is that the sun or sunflower? .....Acorns?..Well, looks to me like that color brown paper would do just fine...no, you think it is tooo brown...oh, yes that lighter brown looks better..oh, that color is not brown!?...that color is terra cotta..I would have never guessed!...Puzzled, oh yes, and they seem to stay that way!
The seasons for my men signal better fishing or less fishing, more yard work or less yard work, piling up loads of wood or not piling up loads of wood. For me, the change in seasons renew in me an appreciation for God our Creator, the Almighty One, who with one stroke of his hand covered the earth in colors of brilliant yellows, vibrant greens, shocking pinks, and soothing lavenders in spring and summer. Then with another stroke of His heavenly paint brush....shocking reds, deep oranges, bright yellows and strong browns dominate the landscape in the fall. Oh, and even here in the south, about once a year, he chooses to throw out the colors and whitewash the land making it, sometimes for more than a day or two, a white or iced wonderland.
The seasons, for me, also remind me of the love and caring of my Father. Just as the abundance of "babies" (birds, bunnies, squirrels) in the spring always amaze me so do the flocks of Canadian geese, flying in picture perfect formation overhead, knowing where they are going, and what they have to do. I can sit for hours watching the striped chipmunks scurrying around with their cheeks full of nuts, preparing automatically for the winter. Gone are the flutter of the hummingbirds, only to be replaced by an increasing of the sounds of our owl friends. On cool crisp evenings, the heavens are bursting with the twinkling of millions, upon millions of stars. The Almighty has taken such care with every single detail of heaven and earth....His way of reminding me of the care of every detail he knows and takes care of in my life!!
As much as I love the feel of the cool earth in my hands in the spring when planting starts, I also love and rejoice in the smell of holiday turkeys and pies baking, of the togetherness of cool nights spent under handmade quilts watching old movies by the flickering light of the fireplace. I can not help but praise His holy name as the leaves on the trees change colors and fall, leaving a carpet of red and yellow on the ground. A smile and "thank you Jesus", is on my lips as I place bold orange pumpkins and pots of red and yellow mums down the steps of the deck and by the door welcoming each and every visitor.
So, as I go about my "seasonal thing", part of which is reminding my husband that I have not been shopping...we have had those plates for years...it is not a new quilt, it is the one I have brought out every fall for the past four years...if you can make your son drink from the "pumpkin mug", then have at it, you will be off the hook(!), it is not about commercialism or secularism...it is about love, gratefulness, appreciation, joy. It is about being reminded to give my God, my Father, my Creator all the praise and honor and glory due to him. Let us all rejoice and be glad...Fall is here!!
...He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Isaiah 51:3
God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, "fall on the earth", so that all men may know His work. Job 37: 5-7
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor. For everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom: You are exalted as head over all. Now, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name. I Chronicles 29: 11, 13
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