There’s something about fall that just makes it my favorite time of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I love every season. Like winter months curled up by the fireplace with a warm cup of coffee or spring when I can plant new flowers transforming barren beds and pots. I also relish the lazy, fun, and less stressful schedules with hot days of summer for cookouts, swimming, lake and beach trips.
Ah, but fall! Fall is so invigorating with the cooling days after the sweltering long days of summer. The changing leaves on the trees are a virtual canvas of vibrant colors that captivate you with the awe of God’s beauty. And I’m inspired even more to get out and hike and discover new trails, parks, and places of nature to enjoy God’s creation.
Fall begs me to start making chilis, homemade soups with loads of vegetables, or casseroles like my favorite chicken pot pie. Though I’m not gifted with baking, I do love to make easy pumpkin loaves or fresh banana bread and fill the house too with the smells of cinnamon and apple cider or hot cocoa simmering on the stovetop. Sometimes I will burn a special candle just to create the fall ambience. The weather invigorates me, the changing leaves stimulate my eyes, and the smells of cooking are all indicative of a new season.
Fall is also harvesting time and my favorite activity is going to the pumpkin patch--now with my grandchildren in tow and to start decorating for the season with the variety of pumpkins, gourds, corn on the cob, and mums. It’s fun to drive to farms, farmers’ markets or vegetables stands with their cornucopia of color and variety of vegetables and fruits to be inspired with new or old recipes to cook.
In the business world, fall is the beginning of a new fiscal year: one in which you access how well you met your goals, stayed within your budgets, or grew your business. In the Judeo-Christian calendar, as opposed to the Gregorian calendar, fall is the start of the new year. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, began at sundown (September 6-8, 2021), and was followed by celebrating the harvest with a holiday called Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot that lasts for a week (September 20-27, 2021). It is their literal and spiritual harvest time celebrated in the fall.
With these things in mind, what new beginning do you need as we enter into a new year and new season? What new dreams or passions do you need to renew? What do you need new energy for? Can you bring all of the weariness from this past year and let God revive you? Like the smell of apple cider with cinnamon or of pumpkin bread and a casserole bubbling in the oven, can you revive your life and your senses? Get out in creation and let the Creator reinvigorate you with His beauty and be renewed. He’s waiting for you and so is fall.
Beloved:
Have you grown weary with the heated trials of life? Then enter into a new season with Me just like the changing season brought on by Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, and fall. Let Me revive and renew you. Come and spend time with Me in My glorious creation to regenerate you. Come away with Me and let Me tell you of the blessings I have in store for you. The old season has passed, enter this new season with joy and with My promises I have for you. You are My beloved.
“Great are Your mercies O Lord. Revive me according to Your ordinances.” (Psalm 119:156)
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