I love October. One day the heat has me sitting on my couch in the air conditioning, and the next I’m joining my kids outside on the back porch swing.

The breeze it brings makes me close my eyes and just breathe. Breathe in. Breathe out.

The October air smells refreshing. For most of August, I simply hold my breath it’s so hot and steamy. So after two months of that (I’m turning blue now) breathing is good!

Fall is my favorite time of the year. It signals the close of a year. Halloween, Thanksgiving and finally the holidays all hold warm, cozy memories for me. The smell of a freshly lit pumpkin candle, yummies out of the oven and that nose-dripping crispness fills the air.

The days are short and the nights are long.

For farmers, it marked a season of rest.

For me, it’s a season of change.

Yep, change can be difficult. Deciduous trees must embrace this change if they want to live through the cold winter. The grass must die back to sprout again in the spring.

I wonder, can trees be as stubborn about change as I am? Ever seen a tree refuse to shed its leaves?
“Nope. I’ve decided this year, I can make it with my leaves!”

Can’t say that I have.

And yet, I can be so resistant to change – I’m the tree that says,

“Why must I drop all my leaves? These were my best set! When will I get them back? Spring?! Oh, man!“

My daughter sounds like that at the changing out of clothes –

That is my best shirt!

I like those holes.

It fits perfectly!

(yes, when you were six, not almost 10!)

The reality is, as I try to explain to my children, we must get rid of the too small clothes to make room for the new ones that do fit. Brand new ones. (OK gently used, but it doesn’t matter!)

Are you tracking with me? Have you thought about how that parallels in our life? And not just with clothes –

When the seasons of life change, and they do, how do we respond?

Are we holding on to our too small, dirty, holey jeans, refusing to give them up? Or do we say one last goodbye, remembering all the memories we shared, and hand them over to our Maker? If we will wait patiently, He may exchange our old worn out favorite pair with something brand new.

Yes, this change takes faith. The new pants won’t fit like the old ones. They’ll need to be broke-in. They might be too tight or too loose at first and require some work or adjustment on our part. But do we trust Him? And will we surrender to what He has planned even when we can’t see it?
For just like those leaves, this change could be what helps us survive the winter months.

So, let’s commit to embrace the change.

I’m praying for you.

I’d love to know how you embrace change. Is it hard? Easy? How do you get through it?

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I hope your faith is growing along with mine as we explore this topic of faith every day for 31 days. If you’re just now joining me, you can catch up on all my posts HERE.

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