It is Autumn again. I know because the leaves are golden brown, the air is cool
and crisp and world seems right where it is suppose to be. I love the Fall. It
is my favorite season to live in. Do not know why, but ever since I was a
little child there was a sense of remembrance that this season would and could
only allow. There always seemed to be a sense of purpose for this time of year
that is full of color and heritage. As I picked up a leaf the other day
and just stared at the lines that were printed upon its beautifully arrayed
face. I thought to myself for a second of how life and time are passing by.
Sometimes, I think to myself, that we as people are a little like the Autumn
leaves that fall from the trees. Each of us created just a little
different from the other. Even in the slightest way. And maybe just enough to recognize
that we our all designed special in God's eyes all the same. I believe I
have been so busy over these past years that I think I have missed the
most recent three or four Autumns. Life and all its busyness can sometimes
mislead us, or should I say distract us, from the true beauty of the moment
that we are supposed to live in. As the lines gently form upon my aging face
and heart I have learned, or may I say God has taught me, that there is a
beauty in the simple things that surround us in our everyday living. A gentle hug
from our six year old child, or a warm embrace from a long lost friend. A surprise
phone call or email from someone we love, but have been to busy to call or
write. Or a quiet moment spent in the crisp fall air, full of gentleness and
beauty and reflection. In a sense, beauty all around us that only the few
who understand the true meaning of time can comprehend and fully
appreciate. When I look upon the Autumns of my life now there are only a few
that my mind and heart can fully recollect. There was the fall of 1984 when I
stood in the middle of the WilliamPatersonCollege
campus where I spent my last two years of my education. I can remember the
beauty of a thousand trees that encompassed my surroundings on a daily basis.
And even though I was a young man of 20, I can still feel the power of their
presence back then in my young life. Now, when I look at the WPC website I
believe I can still recognize some of these visions of color that graced my
life daily back then. They are like old friends who inspire my spirit to a
place of times gone by that are past but not ever forgotten in my
aging heart. Another season of fall that is special to me was the one of
1991. The time of th birth of my daughter Cole Isabel-Ann. That morning of her
birth was one that traces my mind constantly even until today. I remember really
seeing the colors of life knowing that today I was going to receive one of the
greatest gifts of my life on that cool September afternoon. I believe God
made autumn to help us appreciate life. Those three consecutive months, if
embraced, can help us endure the blistering heat that comes before this seasons
arrival and the bitter cold which follows so closely there after. That is why I
believe the good Lord made the name of most of these months end in the word ember.
September , November, even parts of December help us
to remember if we choose, that another year’s end is closing in on us.
I wrote in one of my books many years ago the following line that went
something like this. " I hope I do not die in the cold of winter, because
I wouldn't want people to rush from my
funeral because of the bitterness that surrounds the winter time." Now I
know I don’t have a choice when it is my time to go. But that thought has still
stayed with me over the years. My son asked me the other day what my favorite
season is. I didn't have to think to long to answer that question. I told him
it was Autumn. He asked me, “why Dad”? I told him that it made me
think of everything that I love and that it touched my heart more than any
other time of year. A different kind of thought had crossed my mind the other
day. I wondered what it must have been like for Jesus to walk the earth in the fall.
I imagined what Jerusalem
must have been like back then. Did they wear their cloaks more often.? Did those
hoods keep the Disciples sheltered from the chilly Autumn winds blowing in from
the Sea of Galilee.? I also wonder if Christ ever
turned to Peter while they were walking and said, “before you were ever
born Peter, I designed that hillside over there on the out skirts of Capernaum and created the
foliage that burns bright with those vibrant colors”. We really do not know,
because little is written in the Bible of the nature of the climate back when
Christ walked the earth. But I have to believe that the good Lord loved and
still loves the fall season because it is so picturesque. Not to mention, it
provides great walking weather, right? I don't know why I wrote this chapter.
Maybe I just wanted the people in my life to know how important this time of
year is to my life and what is really in my heart. Maybe someone, because
of reading this chapter, will take a second or a minute more to appreciate the
beauty that God has created. Maybe we can see beyond speeding windshields
and dormant office windows and really take in all of what this season will
allow. I urge you today my friends, no I plead with you, to stop for a
second and take in a moment and really see God's beauty. In my opinion no
one can paint a picture and create a lakeside full of thousands of trees each
colored differently better than the Lord. When you see a painting or photo of
this time of year now, I hope you think of its true Creator . Its master
designer and true artist behind the canvass and thought , is the good
Lord Jesus. So now when you finally do see its
beauty and all the endless imagination that is put into this wonderous creation
called Autumn . Only then can you begin to try and fully understand
God's power and limitless resources that shows us, his children, that He
is everything and more beyond the word "Amazing."
As the lines gently form upon my aging face
and heart I have learned, or may I say God has taught me, that there is a
beauty in the simple things that surround us in our everyday living. A gentle hug
from our six year old child, or a warm embrace from a long lost friend. A surprise
phone call or email from someone we love, but have been to busy to call or
write. Or a quiet moment spent in the crisp fall air, full of gentleness and
beauty and reflection. In a sense, beauty all around us that only the few
who understand the true meaning of time can comprehend and fully
appreciate. When I look upon the Autumns of my life now there are only a few
that my mind and heart can fully recollect. There was the fall of 1984 when I
stood in the middle of the