We have had a vibrant fall this year. As the chlorophyll dissipates from the leaves, their true colors are revealed. The color deepens with the warm days and crisp nights. If the weather is too rainy or the frost too sudden, the leaves will brown and become dusty. The radiant reds are most susceptible to frost. For the red to radiate the days need to be warm and the nights cool, but not too cold.  

As I watch the fall turn into winter I think of seasons and the changes in our lives.  

Ecclesiastes has a beautiful passage describing how there are times and seasons for everything. It gives us different pairings, life and death, love and hate, war and peace. I am always surprised by the pairing of mourning and dancing. It catches me off guard, but it is beautiful and truly a perfect choice.  

I picture this as a metaphor for my life. Loss, grief, anxiety, and chill have made me feel faded and dusty. I find as life warms me, I am slowly turning into a different way of being. I am beginning to feel the red vibrancy of life. I find I am turning again toward a life full of color and joy.  

There is a time for everything, 
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, 
    a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
a time to kill and a time to heal, 
    a time to tear down and a time to build, 
a time to weep and a time to laugh, 
    a time to mourn and a time to dance. 
– Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

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