Driving to work yesterday morning in the rain I realized it's happened yet again... the earth has rotated and my little patch of dirt in North Carolina is experiencing Fall.
Leaves all around are losing their various shades of green and - in some cases - morphing into these unbelievably brilliant colors for a few days before finally letting lose their grip on the spindly limbs that hold them. A lot have already fallen. I drove through one patch of road where clouds of fluorescent yellow leaves drifted to the ground in such density it was like I had happened upon the remnants of a leaf-stuffed pillow fight.
It reminded me of a time a few years ago when I was driving through our subdivision with a friend and there was a particularly beautiful tree (elm, maple?) in a neighbor's yard that had turned this most brilliant shade of crimson. It was breathtaking. We paused to admire it and my friend said, "It looks like a paintbrush... like God pulled the tree up, dipped it in red paint, and sat it back down again." I've never forgotten those words, that tree, or that color. Every fall I spend a few minutes driving around trying to find it again to no avail. Maybe I will find it this year.
As I drove, lulled by the thunk-thunk of wipers and the humming of the road, I thought about how these days of change between summer and fall are when nature pulls out her most vivid paints and splashes them all around, missing a spot here and there but really gobbing it on in others. And I thought about unimaginable colors, how this season might just be a little preview of Heaven, when we'll drive (Will we have the need for cars in Heaven, I wonder?) down roads lined with trees bursting forth with colors never seen here on Earth, amazing colors, colors that will cause songs of praise to spring uncontrollably from our hearts.
Then words from our Bible Study the previous night came to mind.... "For he himself (Christ) is our peace..." (Ephesians 2:14) And I thanked God for being my peace and for giving me a little slice of earthly peace as I drove... in the midst of the change of seasons... and in the midst of so much change in my life.
Leaves all around are losing their various shades of green and - in some cases - morphing into these unbelievably brilliant colors for a few days before finally letting lose their grip on the spindly limbs that hold them. A lot have already fallen. I drove through one patch of road where clouds of fluorescent yellow leaves drifted to the ground in such density it was like I had happened upon the remnants of a leaf-stuffed pillow fight.
It reminded me of a time a few years ago when I was driving through our subdivision with a friend and there was a particularly beautiful tree (elm, maple?) in a neighbor's yard that had turned this most brilliant shade of crimson. It was breathtaking. We paused to admire it and my friend said, "It looks like a paintbrush... like God pulled the tree up, dipped it in red paint, and sat it back down again." I've never forgotten those words, that tree, or that color. Every fall I spend a few minutes driving around trying to find it again to no avail. Maybe I will find it this year.
As I drove, lulled by the thunk-thunk of wipers and the humming of the road, I thought about how these days of change between summer and fall are when nature pulls out her most vivid paints and splashes them all around, missing a spot here and there but really gobbing it on in others. And I thought about unimaginable colors, how this season might just be a little preview of Heaven, when we'll drive (Will we have the need for cars in Heaven, I wonder?) down roads lined with trees bursting forth with colors never seen here on Earth, amazing colors, colors that will cause songs of praise to spring uncontrollably from our hearts.
Then words from our Bible Study the previous night came to mind.... "For he himself (Christ) is our peace..." (Ephesians 2:14) And I thanked God for being my peace and for giving me a little slice of earthly peace as I drove... in the midst of the change of seasons... and in the midst of so much change in my life.
6. ...and the more funky entries, too!
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