It's Fall!

It's finally October--my favorite month! Okay, I confess this photo was not taken in Baton Rouge and it's still in the high 80's here, but one can hope!

Nothing stirs up feelings of nostalgia more than the first weather change of autumn. At my house, wind chimes have heralded the first change in weather for over thirty years. Both homes we lived in faced south, so the wind chimes in the back caught the north wind's stirring. For some reason, the tinkling filled me with joy and gratitude. In the thirty years, I've had wind chimes, I raised my children, developed a closer relationship with the Lord, became a grandmother... I remember one morning about twenty-five years ago. Excited by the tinkling, I quickly took a walk between taking the children to school and Bible study. As I walked, I thanked God for my family. How grateful I was! He reminded me of the prayers I prayed as a little girl for a husband who took the family to church and for two healthy children (my mother had told me that two were all a family could afford). That was my idea of a perfect family. I realized that, not only had God heard a little girl's prayers, he had given me abundantly above I even dreamed to ask--THREE beautiful children and a husband who not only went to church but loved God and led the family spiritually. Every October, when the chimes tinkle, I remember that walk and how God cared about my childhood desires.

This year I am missing my wind chimes. (of course, the weather hasn't changed yet!) We are in an apartment until about Thanksgiving while waiting to move into a new house. When the wind chimes are hung, the house will become home. I may not catch the first stirrings of fall, but they will still chime in November. I can't wait!