The Fireworks of Fall

I have been capturing whatever gorgeous colors of the season I could with my camera this month as I’ve been out and about. I’ve posted a few here to share with you the glory of the colors and the amazement I have each year when autumn leaves start to turn their majestic rainbow hues.

Although the colors are gorgeous, like all seasons, they last only a short while before they are gone. Apparently the length of daylight controls the changing of the leaves, signaling a harsher season advancing. So along with the leaves swirling to the ground with temperatures following, the days get shorter and darkness broods longer.

I find the internal workings of the trees in winter fascinating. Apparently, since the growth slows down and the tree prepares to “hibernate” for the cold and winter, the sap or life-blood of the tree also slows to a stop from running inside. It is almost like everything shuts down, literally like a bear’s system preparing to hibernate. This is all done for protection of the tree, to enable it to survive till the spring. It is all truly remarkable. (For a great summary of the process of fall changes, visit: www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/misc/leaves/leaves.htm

Ever felt like you were in hibernation, in a dry or desolate place, just resting, put on hold, waiting until the right time to walk forward with the life of your dreams?

It reminds me of the life cycles and seasons we experience (some more than others, depending on where you live!). All the beautiful fall colors only come as fireworks sending up their last hoorah before dying out and dropping to earth to become dust.

We too have seasons like that. You can be working hard towards a particular goal or project or time in your life when you can do what you really want. Things heat up and there could be a big burst of color or fireworks display. But then things die off and settle down for a while. You seem to go into a dry spell or hibernation. Your creative juices run slow and may even stop. No fruit or color seems to be in your life.

Don’t worry! Spring WILL come again! It’s just a matter of time. Eventually there will be a quickening inside you, a burst of energy and new creativity. Much genius can come from times of solitude, even cocooning away for awhile. Think of the hidden places of a mother’s womb, where great and glorious growth takes place till the moment of birth. Who could imagine what wondrous things she was preparing to give birth to, and how much that birth would change her life and those around her?

Do not lose faith or hope when skies seem dark and there are quiet or seemingly dry or dull times in your life. They are all part of the cycles and seasons of life. They are a necessary part of regeneration and new growth. Enjoy the quiet times. Celebrate the moments and worry not about the future. It will come bursting on the scene bigger and brighter than you ever remembered when your spring starts to blossom again!

“To everything there is a season, a time for everything under the sun.”