Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity;
but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn
on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling
hills that reach to the far horizon?
- Hal Borland
Autumn is gradually breaking into colors. It is a delicious time of year, much more poetic than summer.
After eight years of living in the desert, my soul is in flight! Even though there are subtle hints of autumn in the desert, there is not the vivid dividing line between summer and autumn. The beauty of nature is a deeply important part of my world. Autumn in Middle Tennessee is sublimely, heartbreakingly beautiful!!! The light is like golden honey dripping out of intensly blue skies. The rocky outcrops of stone catch the light. The sunlit upland pastures are mesmerising. White spires of old churches point heavenward against the blue skies. Goldenrod and asters adorn the roadsides brimming with stands selling pumpkins, gourds, apple cider, and Indian corn. Wisps of fog settle in the curves of the road and valleys through tunnels of gold with orange and yellow raining down and swirling around you.
As Stanley Horowitz once lamented, "Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all." A mosaic it is! Scarlet, plum, red, copper, gold, orange, brown and green hues are arrayed all around. The sun through the leaves is like looking through stained glass.
The acoustics of the season are different too. The formations of Canadian geese flying and honking overhead. The crisp dry sound of walking on grass, and the gentle rustling of leaves permeate my days. It makes me want to seize each moment!
I'm soaking in inspiration....maybe that is why God created autumn.
