Personal Relationships

I welcome fall this year like never before. Maybe it's because of challenging times recently with illness and the need for refreshment and looking to better times. Or it might be the wonderful change of temperature––a crispness to the air that renews energy after the heat of summer. Whatever the reason is, I stop and take note of beautiful colors and a new season for new beginnings. Our drive up to Pennsylvania Amish country a few weeks ago marvelously attacked our senses...autumn colors, rich farmland ready for harvest rest, pumpkins galore, and homes tastefully decorated for the season.

The poison has left my body with lingering side effects to the treatment and some delicate skin in need of repair. The wonders of prednisone amaze me as I experienced some good (wide-eyed clarity of thinking, forgotten pain from arthritis, and energy to do many projects long-neglected) and bad (think "balloon") side effects. The chief's health has been one scare after another recently, and even more so this week––a week that seems like a year long, as every nook and cranny of his heart is poked and prodded. We experience God-instilled peace as we wait for answers. We are thankful all is well so far, with one corner yet to walk around.

Today is a big leaf day. Sagging gutters, full driveway, cluttered grasses––leaves everywhere. They are falling rapidly, but a mere tip of the iceberg to come. As I mow and bag and blow and dump, I know it will start all over again in a couple of days as the multicolored leaves dance down to my doorstep. I look up, up, up––way up to the tops of the trees and down again, and think how before it's over and any possible snow flies (yeah right), I will have a personal relationship with each and every leaf in those trees.

And you thought this might be a blog entry on something spiritual possibly. All of life relates in some way to spiritual things. We see that from our gratitude for a new (lease on) life the chief* feels he's been given, to the simple glories of changing seasons––personal relationships with fallen leaves included.

*my husband's college knickname