The curtains are swishing gently against the window casing, a cool breeze chilling the air. “Time to start closing a few windows,” I say to myself, closing the French doors leading to the deck. “And to think just an hour ago, it was 70-ish.” A few chickadees are still chattering on the feeder, though most have flown home for the night. Crickets are singing a quiet song, the creek tripping over the flat stones on its bed as it makes it way through the neighbor’s yard.
Closing the porch windows, the remnants of the sun’s rays shining through the leaves of the trees catch my eye. The leaves are starting their autumn turn, slight shades of yellow, red and orange are illuminated by the sun, contrasting the green like an artist’s deliberate dabbing with his colorful brush.
“God knows precisely how to close my day,” I say as I finish closing the windows. Purples and blues streak the sky in the distance, the painters brush once again busy at work.
The vibrant colors and the evening cooling are reminders that our seasons are again changing. Summer is coming to an end, fall is quickly approaching. The days are again growing shorter. The morning breeze carries a chill; the grass holds the evening dew long after sunrise.
It won’t be long and frost will replace the dew and the sun will set before dinner is finished. The changing seasons remind us of God’s plan in life, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) We are born and we die. We laugh and cry, dance and mourn.
Through each season, He is with us. He guides and directs. He corrects and comforts. Whatever stage in life, He is there. We never pass through the seasons alone. We need only to trust in Him and allow Him to move us in His ways.
Just as the next season arrives without fail, we can trust God to bring us through whatever place we find ourselves. He uses the beauty in nature to remind me that He is in control. I know through the soft breeze and delicate flowing colors of the gentle sunset that I am held firmly in His hand.
