A Tribute to Autumn
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven …
a time to keep, and a time to cast away …
Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 6b
“Autumn is the season to find contentment at home by paying attention to what we already have.”
~ Unknown
(These three antelope seemed quite content resting in the front yard of the Montana home of our friends, Larry and Lonnie.)
August and September 2024 were very busy months in which my husband and I spent a lot of time away from home. Every getaway was enjoyable, and we loved our time seeing sites and visiting with friends and family in Southern California; Boise, Idaho; and Montana.
It sure felt good, however, to arrive back home on September 30th from our last planned getaway until 2025. While I love traveling, it always feels wonderful to return to our own cozy abode.
I designated this month as “Organizational October” and have found a good deal of contentment at home defrosting and organizing freezers; my section of our master bedroom closet; all the spices; two pantries; and the laundry room. While it has been hard at times to discard, it’s also felt liberating to toss spices and packages whose “best-if-used-by” date passed a while back. I’m not a yard-sale person, but Ron had one and managed to make a few bucks to go into his next-new-camera-lens fund. Afterward, a carload of “stuff” went to a thrift store. I like to bless with my excess of clothes or household items which I will probably never again use.
A couple months before, I designated October as the time to re-organize areas of our home, but earlier this month, I was spurred on by a talk from my friend, Carla. A mother of twelve who knows a lot about living an organized and deeply loving life, Carla reminded me how vital words of encouragement become when we embark on any type of change project.
While cleaning and organizing, I listened to an excellent audible book on prayer and as I tossed physical clutter, I relinquished some soul-cluttering concerns to my Heavenly Father. When I searched for a scripture to support my conviction that reorganization can be good for the soul, I landed on Ecclesiastes 3:6, which says there is “a time to keep, and a time to cast away.”
Those words fit well as I mused that perhaps October, the lovely month when trees cast away their leaves, may be an ideal month to declutter and organize.
“As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.”
(The autumnal colors were gorgeous during our drive to Yellowstone Park.)
“I’m so glad we live in a world where there are Octobers.”
~ Anne of Green Gables
(This is one of my favorite autumn photos which Ron took a few years ago during a photo excursion to the Palouse.)
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
~ Mother Teresa
(Another favorite, this quote seemed to fit perfectly with a photo Ron captured several years ago at Finch Arboretum in Spokane of a ladybug creeping across a colorful fallen leaf.)
Blessings as you journey through the remainder of October and beyond,
