Once again, I am at my desk in front of my big window. I am reminded of many things as I watch the green leaves turn to red, orange, yellow. Then they begin to fall from the branches. I was gone all day Friday; it was a windy day, so when I returned home there were more leaves on the ground than there were left on the tree.

As I sat and looked, I was reminded of the poem The Last Leaf on the Tree by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., and the scene from the movie Grumpier Old Men. When the dad sat at the lake on a bench at 90 years of age, with a tearful grin he said, “I wonder if God forgot me”. Have you ever felt forgotten?

 I watch the leaves fall, some fall very unexpectedly from a still, motionless branch. While others let go as the branch swings in the wind. At times there is just one leaf that falls, other times several fall in sync, but each from their different branches.

There are many different reasons for seasonal changes in our lives. We move, get a new job, have a baby, watch them get on the big yellow bus, send our them off to college, or watch them walk down the aisle. Someday we hope to retire..

Some seasons bring new life, some lend themselves to fun, friends and vacations, others bring cold long days. Then there is fall where I am sitting now thinking of my past two weeks and some leaves that have let go of their branches and fallen to the ground.

Two weeks ago, I officiated a Celebration of Life for a woman of 57. She had lost her battle with kidney disease but had outlived all predictions. Her funeral was held on her birthday. Her Birthday was her favorite day of the year. I ended the service with everyone joining me in singing Happy Birthday. The funeral director said, “this was the first time she had ever heard Happy Birthday sang in the building”. I figured it was her Life we were celebrating, so let’s celebrate.

Tonight, I will attend a visitation for my brother’s 26-year-old grandson.  He was killed when he missed a corner and rolled his car. I went the next day and spent several hours with my sister-in-law. She was as you would suppose a grandmother would be, with the twist that her grandson has lived with her for the past 8 years. That will make an already rough road a little rougher.

That same evening my nephew (brother in-laws’ son) was involved in an accident. A motorcyclist passed a car too near the corner. My nephew was in the oncoming lane and took the ditch to try to avoid the cycle, but he couldn’t. My nephew was OK physically, the 18-year-old cyclist didn’t make it.

I thought of all of this as I watched 5 leaves, each from a different branch, each at its own speed, float to the ground.

The farmer next door is plowing to get the ground ready to except the nutrients from this year’s left-over plant roots, stems, or stalks. It reminds me that our lives and their seasons always overlap. The last one preceded the present and the present prepares for the next.

I so enjoyed my drive in the hills and bluffs of Wisconsin last week. It was fall colors at their best. I am glad I did it then because it was quite windy all day. The leaves were flying off on the trees. It seems everybody in Wisconsin enjoys looking at the fall colors.

How many times have you thought you would stop and capture it in a picture, so you pull out your phone. My phone probably has one of the best cameras I have ever owned, but I think the feelings attached to different photos is the part we can’t capture through the lens.

For instance, if I showed you a painting of an eagle & an American Flag, or old barn scene, or a sunset, an old, covered bridge, or maybe an ocean, or a lighthouse? I am sure among my readers each of those images would speak to someone. Which causes me to think those things, as a rule, are something that moved us. I would fathom a guess that our hearts had taken a picture before we ever focused our camera.

 I remember when I would fuss about something I wasn’t satisfied with in a nature painting I was working on. My husband would say “Hope you are too hard on yourself, besides that you are trying to compete with God.” 😊

This Saturday is the celebration of Life for my sister’s grandson. He decided life was full of more challenges than he could face. Makes me want to look at the boys in my life between 20 & 30 and make sure they know they matter. We have many in this age group at our church. Lord help us teach them that everything in our lives has an expiration, no detour lasts forever. It’s only temporary and only for a season.

Lord, helps us to see that one, that thinks and feels like no one sees.

If even one person loves you, it lets you know that you are lovable.

Blessings! Thanks for reading!

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Ecclesiastes 3

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

² A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

³ A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

⁴ A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

⁵ A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

⁶ A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

⁷ A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

⁸ A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.