I love the Fall/Autumn

I love Autumn. This time of year always recalls good memories. It also reminds me that great holidays are just around the corner. Last week I had the great joy of driving through West Virginia. The mountain were covered with color. The leaves were so brilliant it was like looking at new carpet covering the ranges of mountains.

John Shewell writes:

On an early autumn day, I looked up from my morning prayer to see myriad colorful leaves falling lazily to earth. As I gloried in and marveled at God's wonderful handiwork, I realized that the falling leaves could symbolize God's grace.

This grace comes to us freely, in God's own time and independent of our merit. The leaves fall because of the properties God has mysteriously given the trees and the earth. Grace comes to us because of the mysterious purposes of God. The twists and turns and shapes and colors of the falling leaves are like the infinite variations of God's grace. Grace manifests itself in us and through us in surprising ways.

The far distance shimmered with ever-changing colors and depth. My mind knew what my eyes could not distinguish, that individual leaves were falling there, just as they were nearby. In a similar way, a heart familiar with God's grace knows that it is everywhere. Infinite, endless, and timeless, grace falls on all of us to change our lives.

God's grace is something we do not deserve, yet He offers with with love and abundance. Much like the beauty I saw on those West Virginia Mountains. Ephesians 2:8, "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

Enjoy this great time of year and take a moment and let the beauty remind us of His grace that so freely falls on us. You know I love ya, Don