Isn’t it funny as you listen to people chat idly about the weather, or read their facebook posts – People either LOVE or HATE fall.
There’s no middle ground.
Either you enjoy the change of seasons, crisp air, and gorgeous trees, OR you dread fall and its daily reminder that WINTER is looming.
I have spent many years loathing fall and the coming winter.
I won’t mince words here. Winter is not my favorite time of year, it’s my LEAST favorite. I don’t relish the coats, boots, mittens, hats, shovels, salt, sand, wind and traffic jams. After the rough (no let’s be honest – BRUTAL) weather last year, it requires very little searching to find others who are like-minded.
But this year, I was stopped in my tracks by the way my 4 year old son SEES fall. He views the changing weather and tree leaves as new and exciting, and is filled with JOY.
Having trouble seeing fall as a JOYFUL experience? You may want to try looking at it through the eyes of a child.
This MN fall season has produced more beauty, and has lasted longer than any I recall. In past years, it seems like the trees changed color quickly, and then dropped their leaves overnight in freezing rain, or snow, as winter simply plopped into our laps and was here to stay.
For weeks, I’ve been hearing my son exclaim from the backseat of the car that ‘those trees are changing’. He tells me which color leaf is his favorite, over and over. I’d love to tell you which color IS his favorite, but it changes day by day, and sometimes minute by minute.
He has questions about WHY the leaves are changing, how the change, why the green is gone, why the leaves fall off. While I LOVE any chance to give a scientific explanation, it has been my pleasure to also explain that GOD MADE THE TREES THAT WAY – for HIS and OUR pleasure.
We’ve been driving different routes, to see what wonders lie on different streets, and parking in random neighborhoods to walk a new trail. A few times I’ve brought my camera. We stop and look at all kinds of things, and we take photos of things from my son’s eye-level.
Most of the time we’re looking straight UP.
I’ll tell you what – from his point of view, fall changes are mighty wonderful, awe-inspiring, and make ME want to join in his exclamations of the glory of it all.
It is my JOY to listen to his observations of wonder. I’ve found MYSELF noticing the intricate details, the variation in colors and types of trees, and the glory of the Lord God who created EACH one. AND how he made them and put them here for US to see, enjoy and marvel at.
It is refreshing to remind myself that these fall changes are not only eye-catching, but changes that allow the tree to survive the winter and be ready to sprout green leaves in the spring.
Could ALL of this in all its complexity be CHANCE?
I just don’t think so.
In fact, by faith, I know so.
Are YOU marveling at the trees? Or are you concerned that with every falling leaf, the season is fleeting?
Why spend time worrying and perseverating on the coming winter when fall is here NOW to enjoy?
The Bible is clear that we can’t stop the seasons:
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” – Genesis 8:22
Today I drop down to eye-level with a 4 year old to look anew at things that haven’t been perceived with WONDER like this for a very LONG time.
Instead of dreading the winter months to come, I CHOOSE to be PRESENT, in THIS day, surrounded by God’s amazing creation, undergoing intentional change.
There is no denying it, the Lord has outdone Himself with fall this year. Winter can come when it will, but I will be grateful for what we have today; a sunny, 60 degree day, with crisp air, brilliantly blue sky and an array of colors, as far as my eyes can see.
This FALL, I am grateful for the season, and find myself getting caught up in the JOY and WONDER of it all.
“This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalms 118:24
Thank you, Lord.
Here’s a few of the photos my son and I took to give you a FRESH view of fall from a 4 year old’s eyes (along with his comments, verbatim).












Happy Fall.
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