My Attempts Cannot Delay its Approaching

The AC isn't working quite so hard... the marsh isn't looking quite so green... the air doesn't seem quite so thick... and the garage, the laundry room, and the van smell like sweaty socks.

Fall is almost here.

And nothing says fall like soccer!

 

 

(all four taken by Hannah Crane)

Besides soccer, fall typically heralds new people, new schedules, new pencils, and fresh challenges. However, now that I have graduated, I find that the new people and new schedules are nearly nonexistent, and my writing utensils mostly take the form of the keyboard on my laptop. Nevertheless the challenges are as fresh as ever. 

And I find myself feeling a bit like Meeko in the mornings:

Which is very much unlike me, these early fall-ish months.

Silly me... and I thought growing up would mean life was easier...

Like fall is known to bring death to all of the life that has sprung over the spring and summer, this fall brings me into a new season of dying to self, and all that I have come to depend on this past year. But it is good. Because just like there are seasons of death, there are always seasons of greater life on the horizon.

Could you imagine what would happen if fall and winter did not cause previous life to die? We would not be able to enjoy the freshness of life that comes in the warmer months. The new life that did come would be hindered by the previous year.

So I feel about this coming year. While God has caused some amazing things to grow in me this past year, He has bigger, greater, and more beautiful ways for me to grow. 

"You have made known to me the path of life;

You will fill me with joy in Your presence,

with eternal pleasures at Your right hand."

-Psalm 16:11