Changing Seasons

Autumn.... I love Autumn! I love the colors, the smells, the pumpkins the apples and cider. I love the hay rides, the haunted houses, trick or treaters and this year......most importantly the birth of our Daughter!

A friend of mine wrote this piece about Autumn that is elegantly and beautifully written....I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Change.

"...Please don’t misunderstand. I love our change of seasons and pity the regions that don’t experience it. I love the sights and smells of fall. There is the perfume mother nature provides that is intoxicating. That “peat” smell that you only get when fallen leaves begin to decay combine that with a wisp of wood smoke in the air and the aroma is sweeter than that of a rose. When the foliage begins to turn red, yellow and rust….It can be so beautiful that it is indescribable and you don’t ever want to lose that moment in time. It nearly hurts your eyes. Breezes feel cooler and get stronger. Animals are scurrying about to prepare for what they know is coming. There is wood to split, canning jars to put up and heavier clothing to locate and prepare for regular use..."

Silent Night

As I sit on the couch by a lighted Christmas tree and a 90 lb furry child I am reminded of how much I need to slow down and enjoy the time I am given.

      December....I like to call it crazy month. The month in which you barley have time to sit down and just BREATH! Christmas parties, family gatherings, shopping...it hits you like a ton of bricks. It is easy to get caught up in the "holiday spirit" and miss the beautiful silence  that also comes with this month.
     Yet, it is the same story is it not? I mean, in Bethlehem when Cezar Augusts declared that  a census be taken, thousands traveled to their home towns seeking rooms to sleep in while they registered their family names. So many in fact that there was no room, no vacancies.  I bet the markets were filled with merchants selling their finest products, food being cooked and ready to be sold. I'm sure there were reunions as many family members moved to different cities now gathering in their home towns. Can you imagine the commotion, the chaos? Livestock filling the streets while owners ducked into the local taverns for a drink.  Roman soldiers roaming the streets finding any excuse to make the Jewish citizen's life a living nightmare. Can you picture it?
     Stillness, shepherds tending their sheep.   They were probably about to go to sleep and the heavens opened and the news was proclaimed. Stillness, and while following a silent star the good news was made known in their hearts. Amongst the madness, quietly the great news was made known. He has come, He is here.
     We may not have livestock roaming our streets or soldiers looking for fights, but it is still the same. Regardless if you believe our savior was born in December or April, the message is still the same. God, in all his Glory came to us, came into a world that was and still is chaotic. He broke through the busyness of this world to deliver great Joy that is to be for all people.
       In the stillness of a manger he whispered to us "behold I give you your savior who will free you from sin, who will be a living example, who will prepare the way for you, who will stand in your spot".

 I bet if we sit still long enough...we too will hear Him say... Behold Here He Is!