Where did the time go and where is fall?

Well, I honestly meant to blog last month.  Where did September go?  We did go on a little vacation to HAWAII.  Not bragging.  We're 60 this year and it was our first time.  We did NOTHING.  People, I'm telling you - we laid out.  Ate.  Laid out.  Ate.  Billy played golf.   I drove the golf cart.  We laid out. We ate.  You young people reading this are thinking, "what a waste of a trip in such a beautiful place for those old people."  You may be right.  Truth though, we slow down and life speeds up.  We enjoyed the beauty.  We enjoyed each other.  We enjoyed the diversity.  We enjoyed flying first class, non-stop, round-trip on POINTS!!!  {It may have been my favorite part.}  

We arrived back home and it was cool.  I was in heaven.  Threw the clothes in the washer, opened the windows, threw on a pot of taco soup and grabbed a throw and took a nap.  Fall had arrived.  For 12 hours.  It was a dirty trick.  

It's now almost the middle of October and it was 93 today.  I went to the State Fair twice and it was above 90 both times.  I mean - who wants a corny dog when it's 90?  I keep looking for fall.  I listen to the weathermen faithfully; longing to hear those magical words to every Texan - "cold front."  So far, it has been in vain.

But I've noticed something as I've been waiting.  The activity in my backyard has been in a wild crescendo.  The birds and the squirrels are exceedingly busy.  They sense winter coming and they are busy getting ready.  90 degrees means nothing to them.  They know what I tend to forget - what I see and feel isn't reality.  Just as sure as the sun will rise in the east and set in the west so the seasons will change.  The tired, dry and hot summer days will come to an end.  A northern wind will descend upon us and put a crispness in the air and a spring in our steps.  The leaves will change and for a short span of time there will be a beautiful fiery radiance upon the world.

I love the change in the seasons.  But I often don't appreciate them so much in my own life.  I enjoy the spring when things are beautiful and growing and people are happy and we're all looking forward to vacation.  But life isn't all beauty and spiritual growth doesn't happen in the spring.  Oftentimes it is in the hot, dry, dying days of summer that we experience the deepest growth.  When we have to dig our roots down deep into the soil searching for the springs of water that flow from the Throne of God.

We had a bad Texas storm last week and our new house has a LOT of BIG trees.  It got really dark outside.  Really dark.  Suddenly the wind roared in and I noticed a strange thing.  These big old trees didn't move.  Oh, the tops did.  But these big trees had been around a long time.  Their roots were down so deep and far that that storm only rattled the tops.

That is what the seasons are intended to do to us.  Cause us to flourish where we are and to always, always draw down deep.  Pull from the Living Water.  Then when the storms come - with all their fiery display of darkness, lightening and roaring winds - we may waver a little.  We may sway.  But we will not be moved.

Pray.  Seek His face.  Read His word.  Spend time with Him.  Tell Him everything.  Talk to Him all the time.  Even when you're mad/sad/frustrated/seeking.  Especially then.  He became us so He knows we have a million questions and not many answers.  He knows we are limited by what we can see.  And He calls us to stretch beyond that.  To believe.  To faith.  He's never missed a season.  He won't in you either.  

Fall is coming.  Prepare.