My favorite time of the year

I love autumn.

I love it. I love the colors and the crispness. I love layering my clothes and wearing my denim jacket. I love caramel apples and hot cider and bonfires and football and turning the heat back on. My favorite weather is clear sunny days that you step onto the porch and have to go right back in to grab a sweater. Nothing like it.

I love autumn because of all that it represents. The seasons have always been so symbolic to me - of change, of growth, of rebirth. Fall is particularly romantic. Nature is recreating herself again. Halfway between beaches and snowbanks, Autumn strides in and does her yearly cleaning. Dusting off the dry leaves, putting the daffodils and dandelions to sleep, and sending the sun to rest behind days of cloudy skies. Something is about to change. It is as if the world is taking a nap before it braces itself for winter.

I believe that we all go through seasons in our lives. Summer days are happy and carefree; winter days are gray and languishing. Often, in our human shortsightedness, we do not recognize that we are in either one. But spring and autumn are different; each are so vibrant and definable in their transformation that we cannot miss them. Spring is when all is reborn and hope is anew. Yet Autumn is when the most is possible! We can lay to rest all that has hurt and plagued us. We can recognize that which we need to purge and that which we need to nurture for a new season. It is during the autumns of our lives when we can best see the hand of God and hear His voice whispering in the wind through the drying leaves ... "the old things have passed away ..."