Fall and Its Beauty!!!!

Everywhere you look you see signs that Fall is emerging into its full beauty and glory!  Soon the leaves on the trees will have their different colors.  Some will be red, others orange, and still others yellow!  However, some will have all three and look like they are just on fire with all of their beauty.  Another thing to love is the cooler temperatures and just the feeling that Fall is here.  You can open your windows when it is raining and let the smells of the rain come into your home…it’s raining here today or was when I came to work!  You can start wearing your sweaters again and grab a blanket and wrap in it and not feel like you are going to suffocate because of the humidity and heat.  Although the leaves will fall and the trees and some bushes will just be left with their branches, they are still alive!  They are just in another stage of their being.

Don’t we all do that in a way!!  As we grow up, our lives begin to change!  When we are little we depend on our mothers and fathers to feed us and to take us where ever we need to go.  When we are toddlers, we find out that it is fun to run and to get to places that we couldn’t get to before – and if we can climb, well mom, you better watch out because we will go up stairs, chairs, and even get up on the counters in the kitchen and many other places.  When we are children, we are fascinated about learning and about others who are like us.  We enjoyed being children and we would play for hours outside with games like kick the can, red rover red rover, London bridge, walking the fences, or just playing chase or the game “you are it!”  Those teenage years was where the peer pressure started back when I was a teenager; but that starts earlier now because of the internet.  We struggled with our self esteem and our self worth.  We looked for people who were like us and that enjoyed the things we did.  As we neared our end of the teenage years, we begin looking for that someone to fulfill our emptiness and to be that one we would share our lives with and have children with.  Some people found those special ones and had a special bond.  Others found someone but the bond was broken and they ended up alone once again.  And still, their were others that would not find that one but life went on.  Many were then able to experience those times of being parents and watching their children grow and learn.  We hoped that they would go on missions and marry someone who would love them and take them to the temple to be married.  We watched them grow to be adults and to be their own person.  Now we are older and some are faced with financial issues, health issues, and other issues that are so prevalent in society today!  Now having these issues does not mean that we do not enjoy our lives or see the beauty in them because we do.  As our later years creep up on us, some fear what will happen when they can’t take care of themselves anymore or wonder if they will be left alone.  Some are finding time to serve missions and are still teaching the younger generations.  Still others are taking care of their husband/wife and are watching them slip away from them and then still we have others who are enjoying their golden years together.  These are all stages of our being…a time for all seasons of our life!!

Each stage of life brings its blessings, its challenges, its dreams, its trials, and growth.  On a tree, each stage of its life is denoted by a ring.  I was watching a show on television the other night and a man was explaining what he could tell a person from the tree’s stump after it had been cut down about that tree.  It was fascinating to hear how each ring denoted some period in the life of the tree…during periods of growth or during its hibernation during winter.  I wonder what our Spirit will show at the end of our earth life and when we return to our Creator, our Father in Heaven!  Will we have rings that show our growth during each stage of our life!  Will we have rings show when the blessings were flowing into our lives!  How about the rings when our life wasn’t going like we thought and we depended on our Father in Heaven!  It will be interesting to see how we grew and what has been noted as a growth spurt, a period of dormancy, or a period when life was moving at a normal pace and we were learning daily!  What will our rings show?  I must admit that I am a little nervous to see mine.

One thing I do know is this:  Our Father in Heaven does not want us to dread coming before Him.  He does want us to come before Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  He wants us to be willing to accept His will for us just as our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ did while He lived, performed the Atonement, and died for us on Calgary.  I do truly believe that He wants us to be excited to come home in the end.  He wants us to be excited to see our loved ones but most certainly excited to see Him, our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ our Redeemer!  What a beautiful thing to look forward to, it seems to me!  If I live my life by keeping my covenants with Him and obeying His commandments each day and yes, sometimes I will slip and need to repent, but I still want to run into His arms and have Him put them around me and tell me “Welcome Home, my child”.  I personally cannot think of anything that can surpass that type of ending to the section of my story called “My Earth Life”.  I personally cannot think of any greater “JOY”, can you?