The Fall.

Gone are the days when I relished the coming of summer, glorious in all of its warmth and freedom and weeks of play. With a full-time desk job, those months of no school and lots of flexibility no longer exist, and I’ve found myself craving another season instead…

Maybe it’s the years I went without, in Los Angeles where the leaves on the palm trees never changed color and the sunshine almost always kept me warm, that gave me my first love for the fall. Maybe it’s the cozy feeling I get when I put on that sweater & scarf to step outside, or the gorgeous colors that surround me now that I’m back in the Southeast. It could even be that PSL with half the pumps and an extra shot. But more than any of these, there is something about fall that makes me feel at home.

As the weather turns chilly, I feel myself turning my attention to our home. Beyond the fun pumpkin & pine cone décor and the spiced apple scented candles, it’s the sensation of being at home that brings so much joy: curling up on the couch with some hot tea and a book, cuddling with Tucker next to the fire, cooking hearty dishes that warm the soul. After a summer spent running around from one get-together to the next, the fall offers some sweet serenity and time to turn our gaze inward.

It’s this need for introspection coupled with the anticipation of the coming of fall that has me inspired to write this blog post. Because you see, in this moment that I focus in, it’s easy to get caught up in Halloween costumes and dinner menus and decorations, what I will make for supper and what color mums I will put on my front porch. But it’s the word for the season itself that causes me to catch my selfish musings and again turn my gaze inward to the ways I fall short.

The Fall is a term used to describe the moment that Adam & Eve chose to disobey God in the perfect garden. It’s the same decision that I would have made had I been there instead. It’s a term that reminds us of the condition of our heart, a condition that leads eventually to death. As the leaves fall and the days turn cold, we prepare for the harshness of winter and the loss of life in the vegetation around us. Rare is a blossom or a shoot of green in this bitter cold. And yet… joy & life are restored with the coming of spring.

In the same way, our stories didn’t end at The Fall. Like the coming of spring, redemption came to us through a Savior, Jesus Christ, who breathed life into our decaying bones and gave us the hope of the Gospel, that through Him we could find forgiveness, hope… restoration.

I love to garden and cook and decorate my house. I love to drink lattes and pumpkin-flavored beer. But I would be selling you short to only tell you stories or give you tips about these things on my blog. My hope is that through my words, you’ll be encouraged and inspired to live life fully on this earth with the knowledge that this was never meant to be our forever home.