My calendar tells me that we are only about a third of the way through calendar autumn season. To me autumn means lots of extra work. It is a time of ending summer duties and at the same time dealing with the good things of fall and then having to prepare for winter all at the same time. It makes for a big UGH! as we end each day extra tired. Still, fall begins with my birthday--mostly good except that I get reminded that getting older means more aches and pains! Fall also means color. Almost everyone enjoys the changing of the trees from green to the shades of color we associate with autumn.
Last Sabbath after a delicious lunch, we enjoyed some great fellowship and conversation. And it was interesting enough to make us forget that we had planned to delight in God's Sabbath by taking a drive to see the Master Artist's fall Masterpieces. I was not expecting this to be a good year for this yearly display of color since it has been so dry. I was pretty sure that most of the leaves would just fall off without very good colors, especially since now that gardens and crops are finished, we are finally getting rain! How wrong I was! It was pretty late in the afternoon when we remembered our earlier plan and by that time, it was a bit disappointing when there were lots of low clouds shielding the sun. It seemed that we would not be able to have the brilliant color show we wanted. But we thought that that day might be our only chance so we kept going--and the sun came out! I had mentioned where I might want to go first--I thought! I was wanting to see the colors in the town of Eldorado. But the words that were heard were Elgin! I guess what I was thinking and speaking did not end up the same. We went on a drive to Elgin and I was guessing that my idea of Eldorado was not going to happen. We eventually ended up at Eldorado but the first choice of destination was the best after all. And the clouds disappeared!
It was such a beautiful late afternoon. We saw many, many trees that were a brilliant deep red orange. We saw a sumac that was very red. There were lots and lots of trees that had turned yellow--whole hillsides and other individual trees--so bright and golden. We loved to drive so the trees were between us and the setting sun. The reds and oranges and yellows seemed almost transparent in their glowing! There were other colors that we saw also. There were many trees that were still green. Some had already turned to brown. We were so happy to have the blue background. The Master Artist picked out the right color for our sky. It is the perfect color and allows the other colors to be so brilliant. So much beauty reminded us of another year when the fall colors were so good. That year we actually saw a splendid oak tree that had purple leaves. It was such a beautiful tree.
On the way to Elgin, we made a stop to capture the colors on a hillside with a camera picture. I stayed in the car as my husband walked down the road to the best view. We had parked in a farmer's field drive not realizing that it was a driveway to a pasture for young Holstein cattle--black and white young ladies! Suddenly I was aware that there were cows coming towards me from all over that hillside and gathering at the gate area. Their eyes were glued on me and waiting for someone to get out and produce their supper treats. After a while when I did not get out of the car, they began to express what they thought of me! In cow language I am sure I was being told off, maybe called uncomplimentary names, and for sure telling me what I should be doing! Having grown up with dairy cows, black and white cows are my favorites! I enjoyed their distress in thinking I was going to hand out the treats for the day!
We came home happy with our excursion. It had not been far from home and not one of the famous fall color drives. That wasn't necessary. We had our beauty! Later we got to thinking about the various colors we had enjoyed. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, and white! Suddenly I remembered teaching children the story of salvation with a wordless book of colors! We found that fall is a lesson for us adults too. We too maybe need a reminder of the salvation story! The red is for the sacrifice and blood of Jesus and what He did for me! The orange makes me think of warmth and fire and the cleansing from sin by fire. Yellow and gold will always mean a wonderful Golden city and streets that are planned for us in Heaven. Green means growing. We want to grow more like Jesus every day--we are being sanctified. Blue is for the law that we want to live by, to follow as we grow. Purple is the color that symbolizes royalty--the King that we serve, the King that is coming back to take us Home. Brown reminds of the thorns that Jesus wore as he was dying in our place--the wounds He suffered for us. And finally the colors of black and white remind me that everything that seems dark and black now--sin and death and Satan etc. will change to white and light when Jesus comes. He will wipe out sin once and for all. Death will be no more and Satan will receive the promise made to Eve and Adam. He will be crushed, never to come back again. Perhaps, the color black will even cease to exist!
