The fall season is ushered in at the end of September and then it shows off in October. October is, without a doubt, my favorite month.

October brings relief from the oppressive temperatures of summer. This past summer seemed worse than ever. I don’t know if was my age or the lack of rain. But there were days when I went outside to work on projects when I felt like I could hardly get a breath. Now October is here. The temperatures are perfect and I’m breathing just fine.

October brings rewards from efforts that began in the spring. We had the privilege of visiting family and friends in Wisconsin at the end of September and the beginning of October. I hadn’t been to my hometown for 3 years. What a blessing it was to see farmers beginning to harvest soybeans and corn. I was reminded of God’s constant provision. We also stopped at a couple of Wisconsin’s fabulous apple orchards. The apple barns were filled with so many varieties of apples it was difficult to pick which ones we could cram into the extra suitcase we carried with us just for that purpose.

October brings out all the beautiful fall colors. Most of the trees were just beginning to change colors when we were in Wisconsin. However, we saw a few that were completely changed and had even shed a lot of their leaves. A few years ago, we were blessed to be in Maine in the fall. Even though I grew up in Wisconsin, I’ve got to say, when it comes to beauty, Maine has Wisconsin beat. We drove from Maine through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and over to Vermont on that trip. There were so many beautiful fall colors our minds could hardly absorb the magnificence.

Here in Florida, some trees and bushes do change color just a little bit and we watch closely for them. It’s funny that we get our best fall tree colors not from leaves changing color, but from the blooms and seed pods of rain trees. In October they display their beautiful pinkish and bronze colors to remind us that fall has arrived. Although the rain tree is considered an invasive plant they’re really pretty this time of year and my mother loved seeing them when she would come for a visit.

October brings the reminder that winter is coming. For those who don’t like the cold and snow, that’s not a good thing to think about. For us in Florida, the thought of winter coming is a blessing. We’ll now enjoy 5 or 6 months of heat relief along with lower electric bills.

October is definitely a better representative of fall than late September. A whole lot better than November and early December. It’s always been my favorite month, but now more than ever, because I see myself as being in the October of my life. I'm blessed to have made it this far. As we compare our lives to the seasons we see Spring as the growing years. Summer as the working years. Fall as the fading years which lead us to the dead of Winter.

The funny thing is we never know if we are in the beginning, middle, or the end of fall. I noticed that winter doesn’t always wait for December 21st before it knocks on our door. October reminds us that things are changing fast and we’d better be ready. We can deny that it's fall. We can pretend winter is not coming. But winter has never failed to arrive.

Genesis 8:22

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

Sometimes winter hangs around too long and tender plants are cut down in the spring by a late frost. Sometimes plants don’t make it through the summer heat. But the majority do make it through to fall, drop their seeds, and then die.

So I ask myself, am I still in the beginning of my fall season? Or am I in the middle, or close to the end? I know this for sure, each day I’m getting closer to winter.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

For everything, there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.

Whenever I’m plucked up it will be the beginning of a new Spring season. I know this because I know the Lord. He has made me a promise. He said, if I go to him through his Son, Jesus, he will have a place in Heaven ready for me.

John 14:6

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I encourage you to take the seasons of your life seriously. You and I don’t know when winter will come to our individual lives. I encourage you to make certain you know the Lord and that He knows you. I hope to see us reunited in Heaven one day.

I think Heaven will always be more like Spring than like Fall. Similar to God’s mercies, I think everything will be fresh and new every day in our eternal home. So while I wait for that, I’m going to rejoice in these beautiful October days.