My family will be spending our first Winter in the Pacific Northwest.  People have been reminding us to enjoy the Summer because the long rainy season will be coming.  Sometimes 30 days can go by in a row without seeing the sun.

I was struck this week by the beautiful Fall transition.  I have lived in places where trees turn colors in the Fall, but it was different this year.

I’m not dreading the rainy season because I can’t take my eyes off those trees.  Some trees which I never noticed are bursting into such vibrant colors of yellow and red.  God’s grace is so apparent.  It can be depressing moving from Summer to Winter.  The leaves on all the trees are dying.  Yet, God has created this time of year to excite us and not send us into depression.

The time when trees are partially dying is a time when I see their most vibrant beauty.  The summer is over but the beauty is just as stunning.  Life is the same way.  Our summer is over, we do not live in the garden of Eden, but God graciously created another way.  Thank you Jesus for the grace we see in simple shades of red and yellow.