It is hard for me to believe that we have already celebrated the birth of Christ and now looking toward 2009, though I'm not sure if I have fully appreciated fall this year! For some reason, I feel like I associate smells, touch and sound more with fall (at least in the US) than with any other season...like pumpkin pie baking in the oven, or a thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmin's. There's also a crispness in the air - a distant scent of winter announcing it's coming, but not quite. And, the sweet smell of white oak burning in the fireplace on the colder nights.
There's also that first pair jeans since the spring (unless you live in the mountains of NC like myself, or any place with a nice, cool summer), slightly foreign but remarkably comfortable at the same time; the coolness in your boots after resting from an afternoon hike; the prickly, crunching leaves announcing each of your steps as you walk barefoot by a cold stream. Then, the slippery, moss-covered rocks underneath when wading through the waters, numbing and refreshing. It's as if everything in life becomes more brilliant when your senses are awakened, away from the climate-controlled, routine-ness of life we strive so hard to embrace.
I think most of this can be summed up with one picture:
I feel that the more time I spend observing and thinking about His creation, the more I can't help but to be in awe of His love and grace expressed through the beauty that surrounds us every day.
