Why We All Need A Time Out

I step outside on this first day of fall, my very favorite season, the debut of all that splendid color and the shifting change. I see the first glimpses of all that could be in the landscape, the air sparks transition and it stirs quick inside, this renewing, everlasting promise.

Easing into retirement, the days now void of alarm clocks and lunch bags, the hours stretch out into vibrant splashes of fresh choices, slow mornings, and shorter lines at the grocery store. I look outside at the first hint of varicolored hues, those dazzling oranges and reds dressing the leaves, and I breathe it all in. This unhurried pace that kisses the soul. Thank you for this time out. Thank you for the slow. Thank you for this peaceful inhale.

I want to guard this discovery, suspend this fraction of time and sweep my gaze from the droning  television, social media, the ticking kitchen clock and all that buzzing noise competing for this inherent peace. The upcoming days will fill I know, and the maple leaves in the backyard will soon carpet the cooling ground. But in this moment, I rest from the all that scares me, all that terrifies my quaking spirit, pluck the slivers of fear from this beating heart. The television is silenced, that man's voice rendered mute. And I turn my attention to  two birds nipping at the seed in the feeder, and I begin tunneling through to the light, hunting for that awesome, heart pumping joy. Cracking open my husband's birthday present, I flip the pages, searching for the tiny species taking their fill on this day, this first day of fall. More joy. More peace. More time out.

And I nestle into the Promise once again, exhaling renewed hope, this truth that trumps all my fear. I see Him in the orange-red breast of the bird I can't yet name, the dancing leaves that will soon shoot glory beams into unsuspecting souls, the unknown hours, moments, waiting patiently up ahead. I hear it all over again and I stamp an imaginary sticky-note on the still scared places, reminding myself of this unshakable wild and crazy truth.

He's telling His changeless story all over the earth. Weaving the thrilling chapters together, one page, one change, one season, one moment at a time. 

If God maintains sun and planets in bright and ordered beauty, He can keep us.
~F. B. Meyer~