30 Days of Thankfulness ~ ABC’s & 123’s and “A” Stands for Autumn

I started this post on November 1st, honest! But now I sit in a pediatric ward at the local hospital where my newest baby was just admitted for 48 hour observation...oh yeah, I haven't updated the blog about her yet. More to come on that sweetness and her current status in a bit.

I do my 30 Days of Thankfulness every year to foster renewed thanksgiving in my heart when I can find it so easy to spend my time in a place of ungratefulness and entitlement. The practice of pausing each day for a month to remind myself of what I have to be thankful for, whether big or small, is the perfect antidote to the greediness and "wish I had it all" feeling that comes in the midst of the holidays (which should really be more about gift giving than gift getting). I've done this habit a number of different ways from year to year and this year I thought I'd simplify by focusing on a letter of the alphabet (plus a few more days) to inspire my thankfulness each day. Since this was going to be my generic intro to the practice I wasn't planning on including my first day in this post...but here I sit, it now November 2nd waiting on doctors. So I'll go ahead and start this thankfulness ABC train. 

"A" Stands for Autumn

There is something about every season that I love. Every season has something that makes it stand out - it's high notes that find their way into my heart and help me to sing in that season. Autumn has an especially gorgeous song with it. Maybe it is the crunch of the leaves under your feet or the vibrant color everywhere you look or the smell of earth and rain and damp or hearth fires with cider or blustery days and all things pumpkin. Or maybe it is every single thing I just mentioned and more. 

In the midst of all the beauty of autumn I am reminded that the beauty is brought to us by lots of death, hibernation and decay. How is it that in the midst of all the endings and darkness of the season beauty still shines through? Perhaps there is a greater picture we are supposed to see beyond that which seems so melancholy to the hope beyond the end.

I think that is just one of the many gifts God gives us in Autumn. We can find our rest in this season of endings, remembering that which was, and looking ahead with hope to a new season brimming with fresh purpose that puts spring in our stepping out to new things. It is the opportunity to hear the song that might not have been heard in the sunny days, but that might reach deeper into our souls on a cool autumn night when the early darkness allows for more quiet reflection. 

 I'm thankful for autumn.