There's something about Autumn...

There's just something about autumn that sparks the creative urge in me. It may be from the years I made Christmas gifts and I knew come September, it was time to get started (if I hadn't already). I do believe, however, there's something within each of us that needs to prepare for Winter. It's the urge to "do something" that is most likely from generations past. In days gone by, we needed to prepare gifts for giving at Christmas and to provide food and warmth for Winter. I recently viewed one of nature's own furry creations getting ready for the cold.

I was looking out my back window a few days ago, staring at the bluebird "house" and thinking we needed to replace it. I have seen bluebirds in our area but none from that house, which looks as if it has been around since the original owners in the 1960s. Just as I was making a mental note to tear it down, I noticed movement on the top of the house. There was a squirrel eating his dinner with as much charm and grace as if he was sitting at my dinner table, eating from the good china. I could not take my eyes off that squirrel. Obviously he was gorging himself to prepare for Winter but he was the cutest thing. I called my husband over to watch the feasting and we both agreed the house stays, even if it is to be a dining table for a squirrel.

It isn't only in nature that I've seen this change come Autumn. When I worked in corporations, the closer the calendar came to Thanksgiving and Christmas, the more I saw changes in the women around me. Those ladies who would not go near a stove the remainder of the year were making grocery lists for the ingredients to bake cookies with their children. There were conversations about calls to Mother for family recipes and secret ingredients. During lunch hours, various projects would be brought out to complete without curious little eyes watching. For whatever took our time and attention the rest of the year, come Autumn our thoughts turned toward home and the Holidays of our youth.

Perhaps that is part of the charm of Autumn. Certainly it is in the cooler temperatures, the colors which surround us, the aromas of wood smoke and cinnamon, wearing our softest sweaters again, pulling a favorite quilt over us while we sip our autumn blend of tea...all of these bring joy to our heart.

But there is something deep within each one of us which I believe is put there by the heart of the Father. A gift He gives to women everywhere, that joy which comes when we prepare our families for the Winter to come, knowing it was the work of our hands that will bring the smiles later. The smiles may come at our Thanksgiving dinner table, or Christmas morning, or perhaps in the midst of a snowstorm when we prepare food carefully put away in our pantry...but they will come.

She is not afraid of snow for her household,
For all her household is clothed with scarlet.
Proverbs 31:21

Photo: Allposters.com