Fall. Who doesn't love the beautiful color of fall leaves? At no other time of the year do leaves break out in such brilliant colors of reds, yellows and golds. And yet, those beautiful colors mark the beginning of the end, for soon these same beautiful leaves will fall to the ground and be no more.
Such is the lesson nature gives us of life. Despite what you or I may want (unlimited sunshine here), life is made up of cycles. It is not just spring, summer, fall, and winter. It is also life and death, budding and harvest (yes, harvest is a type of death as well, when a tree gives what it has for production of a new generation).
But nature also shows us that there are times that seem like death when it is really a season of dormancy. I know from my family's apple farm that unless apple trees have a sufficient number of days of below freezing temperatures they will not bear fruit the following season. A lesson on what seems like death being rejuvenation.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 says: There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die: a time to plant and a time to uproot the plant, a time for death and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance...
Fall offers me a time to reflect. If I would profit, I need to take some time to ponder its beauty and think about its lessons. I might even take an apple with me and sit somewhere quiet. Then I can enjoy the brilliant colors of the trees whose leaves are turning before they depart, even as those same trees are preparing for the rest of winter.
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