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to begin: Sometimes in life, we welcome in something new, but we also take a good long look in the rearview mirror - reflecting backwards at the beauty (or harshness) of something -
These things make up our lives. The good and great, the bad and the ugly is all woven into the threads of our lives - each and every one of us. September always makes me stop to remember as it is in recalling the past that we see so much about who we are, where we have come from, and what we need to be thankful to God for!! This blog post is about all that!!
The sky is grey today and the winds are cool
The weeds in the garden are fewer and growing slower
And some leaves have begun to change their green for yellow
The flip of a calendar page reminds me that this is September
The month of fall
And today as I snuggled under a quilt with a heating pad
I was reminded that this is the month of temperature change
I love Autumn
But I also feel sad at times
It really is the opposite of Spring which I love as well - and likely just as equally as Autumn
Spring is where new life bursts open before our eyes
While Autumn or Fall is really a symphony of praise to the creator!
As creation turns the most brilliant colours before our eyes
But then ... the leaves fall, and die.
There are a few things that I love about fall ...
Our wedding in 1978
Memories of my daughter Ashley & Michael's wedding <3 font="">
Combines on fields late into the evening
Big round hay bales
Colors of every hue
Flying leaves
Huge squirrels carrying pinecones to their homes for winter (just witnessed this)
Acorns
Geese returning from the north to the south - their honking and flying "v's"
The sound of crunching leaves
The small of leaves that have piled and are beginning to decay
The coolness of the days that makes us put on sweaters
Pumpkins
Corn Mazes
Thanksgiving
Woodstoves, Campfires and Fireplaces get used more
The smell of the house when the heat is turned on for the first time (is that dust?)
AND .... the smell of burning stubble.
I realize that for many, the stubble burning in the fall isn't easy.
I am asthmatic too, and yet this smell doesn't bother me
It takes me back many many years ...
When our house in Beausejour was being built, and we were living in our cabin at Sandy Bay.
The cabin - simply built on lake front property.
Sufficient 2 bedroom cottage, NONwinterized cabin (this is a key point). It had two bedrooms, a roll away cot for Tim, and with a breakfast nook that was built, and became a bed at night.
That was where I slept.
Thing is - we had no running water unless someone physically ran to my Auntie Dot's to get it in a container.
That was before the time of water coolers, and water jug delivery!
We also did not have an indoor washroom ... instead it was about a 50 step walk to the outhouse that was nestled by some trees. I was very used to outhouses as I grew up on Elk Island, with 4 seater outhouses (which really is a very gross idea when I think of it, but it was practical - killing 4 birds with one stone so to speak lol)
Camp finished for the season. The big barge that took the campers over was moored for the season.
And we, the Gerald Thomas Family hunkered down in the cottage on the edge of Lake Winnipeg.
We would be there for at least a three months. Housing was hard to find in Beausejour for the "in between" until our house was finished (which would not be till the next spring).
I was in Grade 4 and my brother Tim was in kindergarten. Brian had not yet joined our family through adoption yet. Dad and Mary-Ann worked full time at Polaris, and Heather was attending the Senior High (now named Edward Schreyer School). Mom stayed home and kept "cottage" and had our lunches ready for us, and supper when we got home. Funny, I still remember my lunch bag that was purchased for my grade 4 year!! The things you remember!!
I realize now that my mom must have had a combo of hard living with the primitive accommodations but also, she must have enjoyed some sweet time with the LORD in the silence of the country while we were all away in Beausejour. I am starting to understand my mom more and more as I age, and figure I am much like her in that I enjoy the silence and solitude .
I remember those early mornings of climbing into the car. Sometimes if Dad was away on business or had to go early, Nelson came and picked up in his (what I thought to be) sporty red car, since he was dating Mary-Ann he also got to drive us some days!!
I guess that experience in fall of 67 at the age of 9, it really was an adventure.
Let me tell you, when the season turned into Fall ... we woke up and could barely walk across the ice cold floors. I dont think my dad built the cottage with the intent of EVER being in it into the winter months ...
Like I said ... no running water .... no toilet ....
Yet those things added to the adventure - and running over to my auntie Dot and uncle Tom's for a bath was part of that too. I loved Auntie Dot so much! Her and my dad were pretty close, and having her as neighbour meant a short run through the bush and we were at her house. There was always laughter there!!
And on top of every thing else ... there was smoke from burning stubble!! We would drive highway 59 to the turn off at Gull Lake, and then go right into Beausejour . About an hour from door to door (Polaris) and then off to school. (Sometimes I think we may have been dropped off right at school). Thing is, while driving to Beausejour, we drove through many miles of fields and the farmers were burning their stubble. Sometimes the smoke was thick across the road. Other times, it was just beginning the burn, or ending, and the smoke was drifting upward in a mesmerizing dance of smoke. The smell .... even as I type this, it is as if I can smell it. It is one of those comfort memories.
So the other day, when Alvin and I were driving and I smelled that, it whipped me back down memory lane - over half a century ago!! (yikes) .... 53 years to some of the best memories ever! And I once again told my husband everything that he hears yearly during the season of Autumn.
(He never says "you told me that before" )
September: You seem to have snuck up on us although you have come in with a very cold breeze! Seems to me it is time to pull out the sweatpants again! Turn on the fireplace and make a good cup of coffee!
What do you hold September of 2020? No doubt you will show off the Creator's handiwork once again. It has already begun - as I see some yellow on the bush outside my window. Autumn is a time of unspeakable indescribable beauty. One of the reasons we loved Henderson Hwy (where we built) was because of the beauty of the trees and we often took fall drives out here when we lived in Anola.
But September, what else will you hold? In this year that began with such gusto and turned into a muddle mess of COVID-19 ... nothing is "normal" any more ... but September, I have a feeling that you will bring beauty into this hard year! We know that September will bring with it a much anxiety laden return to school for my grandchildren. And dance class, preschool, hockey and soccer, as well as (the best part) a return to church IN THE BUILDING! It is hard not to be anxious during this time. TBT I AM ANXIOUS ... But I have to continue to trust that GODS GOT THIS as well.
In all of this, the past 6 months, COVID-19 has put us into a very different, slow life. Let's face it - it has been hard. But I believe it would have been harder without GOD in it. So for September I am going to choose to embrace the beauty in each day - even if it seems not to have any. I am going to choose to breathe deeply of the goodness of God. I am going to choose to embrace the in between time where we remember the "old normal" and try to find the "new normal" although really, someone once said, "Normal is only a setting on a dryer!" ... I think she was onto something.
Life is to be lived FULLY. Jesus said that He had come to bring life, and life to the full!
What does HIS fullness look like to me?
In living fully, we need to take today, thank God for it, and see where we see HIM all over our day. Even in the toughest days that may come ... we still need to look for HIM.
In living fully, we need to look at ourselves and see where God is at work in us - because if we let Him - guaranteed He is at work.
So September - I say a big HELLO to you ... yep, I wonder what you will hold, and I have a feeling there will be some surprises along the way! I also know that you will show off and praise the Creator through your splendour! I am looking forward to that ...
And the sadness that also comes with my Septembers ... I am okay with that too, because I have come to understand that as well.
You've Got this God - I know it!
Hello sweet September!
with love
j
PS: Now, if you have read this - feel free to comment below - what does SEPTEMBER mean to you? Let me know! Enjoy this month.... and grab a sweater!
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