Hi, friends. Fall is a gorgeous time of the year here in the country. Photos hardly do justice to the breath-taking beauty of trees with all variations of green, yellow, orange, red, and brown leaves. I feel intense awe when I drive around and observe the unique displays in each bend and turn; everywhere I look feels worthy of a picture. I can hardly fathom the wonder!
These photos were taken on a rainy day earlier this week on my drive to work.
As I embark on another day on this beautiful Earth, I contemplate the experiences and opportunities that lie ahead for today and for all of my life. The possibilities are limited by my disability, but life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful. Regardless of my circumstances, I am lucky to have my senses, which enable me to fully appreciate the seasons–the incomparable sights of nature, the smell of the wet leaves after a storm, the feeling of a cool breeze…
The fallen leaves along the sides of the road symbolize parts of me I’ve left behind; like the molting trees, I am shedding old ways to make room for the new. Even death can be beautiful. [Ex: A Plea for Political Nuance From an Ex-Extremist]
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)
Along the road, a variety of colors is visible in the trees: red, brown, orange, etc. In the image below, we see that some trees are resisting their fate a little longer and remain green. Don’t they know? Change is inevitable. We can, however, choose how we respond to the shifting seasons of life. It is nice to have something permanent to grasp through life’s chaos.
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. (Acts 17:22-27, NIV)
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22, NIV)
As I arrive at work, I look around to observe yet another stunning display of nature. Though objects made by man are visible in the photo below, God’s incredible handiwork outshines them. Though our own sin seems to dilute an otherwise perfect creation, God’s handiwork in nature and even in humans still shines.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31, NIV)
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:18-25, NIV)
Thanks for reading! How is the weather in your part of the world? Do you love fall, too?
Retrospective Lily 
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