My Favorite Season

I love autumn.  It’s absolutely my favorite season of the year, for several reasons. (And by the way, no, I didn’t take this picture, I found it on the Internet.  Sure is pretty, though.  I hope the owner doesn’t mind me using it.)

Autumn means we’ve made it through another long, hot, dry Texas summer.  Autumn means crisp mornings and warm afternoons, but with a hint of coolness.  It’s the time for hot chocolate, hay rides, and a good bowl of chili.  (It’s also time for my birthday, and I’m still enough of a kid to enjoy having it come around!)

The fall means Friday Night football, the beautiful fall foliage, and of course, anticipating the holidays bringing fun and fellowship with family and friends.

Autumn can be a sad time for some people.  It can be a time for regret, or becoming distracted by unmet goals, but it doesn’t have to be.  We can make autumn a wonderful season of refreshment and reminding ourselves of what is best, if we will.

Here are some thoughts on making the most of your autumn.

Explore some new colors.  One of the best things about the fall is the bright colors that we see around us –beautiful crimson, the harvest gold, bright yellow, all shades of brown.  Autumn is a great time to take up a new hobby, read that book you’ve been meaning to start, take a trip you’ve been dreaming about making.  Trying new things can be as invigorating as a cool fall morning, so go for it!

Let go of anything holding you back.  Trees are shedding old leaves and dropping their dead stuff.  Sometimes we need to do the same.  Let go of past regrets, self-condemnation and old grudges.  Let bygones be bygones, and forgive.  We forgive, not because others deserve it, but because WE do  As long as you’re holding onto that pain, you’re giving the offender the power to keep hurting you.  When you forgive, their power over you is destroyed.  And forgive yourself, as well.

Appreciate blessings while they last.  Autumn in Texas doesn’t last long; winter will soon be here.  We need to appreciate the blessings that God gives us while they last.  As C.S. Lewis once observed, “The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and pose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.”  In other words, enjoy the blessings that God gives, but realize they are never permanent.

Here’s wishing you and yours a blessed and happy Autumn!