Fall Blessings

I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord!

Psalm 92: 4-5.

As long as I can remember fall has been my favorite season. My eyes are drawn to the warm colors of gold, orange, reds and browns, so it’s no real surprise that the colors of my home have naturally gravitated to these. Lately my eyes have been riveted to Pottery Barn’s fall catalog because the vignettes of life on those pages look, well...homey. Its pages brim with peaceful earthiness, rustic charm and a touch of whimsy. Sometimes I want to jump into those pages and assume the life of a fall Pottery Barn woman...coming into my door with arms laden of fresh-picked herbs, a bottle of homemade wine has just been opened and about eight of my dearest friends are admiring my table setting and sipping appreciatively.  Pottery Barn women would seem to entertain a great deal (which I would like to, but for some reason don't), and work from home (which I would, but I can't figure out what I want to be when I grow up). Yes, fall is a magical time, and I would assume even more so for Potter Barn women.

My daughter says fall brings with her urges to buy something in bulk, reminiscent I suppose of our fall school-shopping expeditions. I, on the other hand, feel a yearning to make soup and knead bread, shop for colorful squashes, make applesauce, and eat pork chops with my fingers. My eyes are scanning for each day’s color changes and my skin awakens to the crispness of the fall air. One of my favorite fall thrills is watching leaves flitter downward from the trees and then dance enthusiastically upward for a festive and elegant waltz after a car zooms over its carpet. Fall also brings dew-bejeweled spider webs that are stretching over expanses of air like a spidery art show. The one stretching from the rain-gutter to my grill, takes “best-of-show” in my book

I know the beguiling magic of fall has long been with me because when I was a little girl of eight or nine, I wrote the following poem and a year later submitted it to a grange national newsletter where it was published, much to my youthful glee:

Fall

Orange, green, red, brown,
Fall is the time the colored leaves fall down.
They titter and tatter up in the trees,
Then swoosh comes a big hard breeze
Then, down, down, down, goes my beautiful leaves.

I was chatting with a Starbucks barista the other day after buying my first pumpkin latte of the season. We were agreeing over the deliciousness of fall and she was bubbling over with the anticipation of fall and winter holidays. How much easier it is to say good-bye to warm weather and summer flowers when the beauty of fall is so prevalent and the family feasts of winter holiday celebrations beckon us forward. How blessed we are as a nation. How blessed we are to live here in the midst of so much beauty, treasure and bounty. I’m humbled to be the hands and feet of our Lord, and pray for eyes to see his blessings, hands to serve others and feet to walk with those who need a friend. Help me Lord to serve; I have more than I need. Help me to realize that when I'm reading the Pottery Barn fall catalog.

Here are a few of my blessings around our home: