564. I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Autumn is the eternal corrective.
It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity;
but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance.
What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop
and fail to see the span of his world
and the meaning of the rolling hills
t
hat reach to the far horizon?
~Hal Borland

Screen shot 2014-09-23 at 8.59.47 AM

Nature reveals intimations of its Maker in so many ways. It can even mask disturbing realities in this fallen world so that in the remaining clarity one can gain a better perspective of the bigger picture. The exact beginning and end of nature’s seasons, like the seasons of our lives, come and go shrouded to some extent in veils of mystery. And we can never really be sure of the exact moment in time that the spark of change ignites. Nor do we know when the remaining ember of that initial spark will die, but the time and space between beginnings and endings, like autumn, ripen life with more than enough breadth and depth and distance and color. For example it was over 80 degrees here today and although I did not “waste anything as precious as autumn’s sunshine,” I know November’s door will close at midnight and the winter solstice is only 3 weeks away. But I also know there’s no guarantee that the solstice will mark the exact end of lovely autumnesque realities. The weather forecast may say that an arctic norther will start blowing in here in the wee hours of the morning and plummet our temperatures to below freezing by tomorrow night. But the same forecast also shows that a day later we’ll be on the climb right back up to the warmer ripeness and color that is quintessentially autumn. So who knows? Is this cold snap the beginning of the end or will it be the next one or the one after that? There may be many things we cannot know in this life, and although it has been said that “life is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing,” others perceive life as a different kind of tale. I, for one, find that standing outside in autumn, or any season for that matter, gives me glimpses of Yahweh, the Holy One, wrote the tale, who knows everything, who’s in control, and who has a plan, purpose, and time for all things under heaven.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ~Ecclesiastes 3:11  ✝

**Image via Pinterest

21 thoughts on “564. I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne”

  1. The weather is so fickled—today was most warm and sunny—and the forecast for the week looks to be mild—yet any day, mild or blustery, being outside in the glorious expanse of any season always speaks of God’s mastery to my soul—it is truly where my heart meets His—in His creation. . .
    Lovely Natalie–as always!!
    cookie

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  4. We have the same problem here in New Zealand. Today is officially the first day of summer but for today and tomorrow the temperature has dropped. It shows that God is almighty and he alone knows what is in store for us. 😍

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    • Thanks, Yvonne. I’m glad you enjoyed the post and photo and pray that you have an absolutely wonderful week. The feather that dropped in your lap yesterday, is definitely a sign from above that angels are watching over you!
      Love and hugs, N ❤

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  9. Very nice Natalie. Is the weather in Texas really like that? Temperamental, always raising and dropping?
    I also love the colors in the photo. Just beautiful.
    Love and hugs.
    🙂 ❤

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    • It depends Staci. In late June, all of July, all of August, and some of September, you can on it be HOT. But the rest of the time it does tend to go up and down. Which is kind of nice because we never get tired or exhausted from weather conditions like we do in those hot months. I’m glad you enjoyed the post and photo. Hugs, N ❤

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