Tag: fall

I Love the Fall

~ Barbara ~ Leave a comment

Tonight I will sleep with the window open and the air off. I do believe summer’s heat is finally behind us, and I am free to fully appreciate my favorite season. These are some of the things I love about fall (and yes, I do this almost every year—how can I not?).

  • The dance of leaves falling from trees and swirling on the ground
  • The warm colors of yellow and orange, red and brown displayed in leaves, gourds, and mums
  • Light shining from dining room windows in the earlier darkness
  • Apples in bowls on the counter, or oozing through an apple press to make sauce, or baked into a pie, or on a stick covered in caramel
  • The fragrance and fullness of tartly sweet apple cider
  • Pumpkin muffins and breads, cookies and pies, and seeds toasted in the oven with a dash of salt
  • The cooler weather and the coziness of soft sweaters and sweatshirts
  • The anticipation of Thanksgiving when gratitude swells and family comes home
  • The quietness that comes with the arrival of a new season and its reflection of God’s faithfulness

There is much more than this brief list. What would you add?

A Pumpkin Perspective

~ Barbara ~ 2 Comments

It’s officially fall! Leaves are floating, though their color has not yet turned vibrant. I fear that summer’s heat and drought may deter the bright shades of yellow, orange, and red we love in North Jersey. But we do have pumpkins!

I spot them grouped with mums on front porches, propped against light posts on bales of hay, and scattered through my house as part of the fall décor. Pumpkins are happy, vibrantly orange, inspirers of cheer. A small seed has produced a large gourd with tasty pulp we bake into pies and breads. It flavors lattes and cookies and adds its unique fragrance to candles. And, it is filled with more seeds that contain the promise of reproduction in the future.

This stirs in me a “Pumpkin Perspective.”

  • Be bright and bold.
  • Let your presence cheer others.
  • Share your unique flavor.
  • Spread your seeds for future increase.
  • Shine in your season.

Our existence, like the pumpkin’s, is transitory. Let’s give it all we have and be a blessing.

Let your light shine before others, that they may… glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16