Changing of the Leaves

Changing of the Leaves

By:Megan Chewning

One of my favorite times of the year is fall. The weather is starting to get cooler and the leaves start changing colors. Well, not so much in Florida. Here it’s hard to tell when Fall comes around. We often have a “Summer/Fall Blend” for a few months before you really see any change. Many Floridians get excited when we get 70-something degrees in the forecast. In many parts of the state, leaves don’t really change colors either; instead they just fall off starting in January. During a “cold” front, you may wake up to 50 degree weather, dressed in your fall sweaters, but then it quickly heats up to 85 degrees around noon.

On a recent BOW trip, we had the opportunity to visit an area along the St. John’s River where the weather was cooler (at least for a few days) and the leaves were changing from green to other beautiful colors, almost as if we were up in the Carolinas. I had no idea there were parts of Florida that could actually “feel” like Fall! As we explored the waterways up near the Jacksonville area, all bundled up on the boat, it reminded me that as beautiful as the season is, it’s actually a time of transition. When the leaves start changing colors and dying off, it gets the trees ready for a cold winter.

Many times in life, we can’t really understand the “changing of the leaves” in our lives. We may go through seasons of joy, health, wealth, and fun (like Spring and Summer) where everything seems to go our way or as planned; family is good, work is busy, we feel great, and are happy. However, there may be times when things just seem to “die off” and nothing is going right. In order to survive those harder times in life, we need to go through a transition season that prepares us for the “colder” months. Our farmers use this time of transition in Fall to harvest the food and store it up for the upcoming winter. It’s in those times of harvest that allows us to slow down and reflect on all the things in life we are thankful for. A grateful heart will help us get through the “Winters” of life. It’s no coincidence that Thanksgiving is right before colder days of the year.

In those times of transition and harvest, God prepares us to go through the hard times. 1 Corinthians 10:13 reminds us that God will never give us more than we can handle and that even in those times when it feels like we are at our wits end, God will always provide a way out. He also tells us in Psalms 23 that He will walk with us through those valleys. In addition, God allows us to go through times of harvest during those transitions to prepare us for the harder months ahead and he gives us all the tools we need to “store up” and make it back to Spring and Summer. So don’t be disheartened when the leaves begin to change and die off in life, know that God will always be there with you through each season you’re in!

58 BETTER OFF WET | OCTOBER 2022