At Last!

I don't know about you, but I have been in the dumps about the dry, colorless season we have been enduring for the last eternal weeks......no rain, very little color, high winds, hot, then cold, then hot again.

But then the rain came.  Gently, gently falling on the stiff, dead grass outside my window.  No rushing of water from the sky....just a steady, constant sheet of welcome rain.  We all had been looking forward to it....we knew it would happen soon.  But still, what a relief.

As I traveled today I was amazed at the bright shiny beauty I saw at every turn in the road.  Vistas of the hills clothed in orange and red, and yes....the perennial brown....dotted here and there with yellow and gold.  The color had been there before, but somehow the rain made each leaf and branch glow in the sunlight.

It makes such a difference in my attitude when I am surrounded with glowing autumn colors.  Fall will lead to winter.  The bare, dark limbs of oak and walnut and maple will move with the chilly wind.  Gray clouds will drift on the horizon...blocking out the light of the sun at dawn, noon and dusk.  

But somehow, the redemption of fall color and light makes that future seem at least bearable.  It's not that our winter here in the Ozarks is all dull and drab.  The sun will shine with a different light.  The air will be clear and fresh.  We do enjoy having a chance to walk in the brisk beauty of  a winter afternoon.

But just for today I gloried in the colors of this season.  A memory that will take me through the next months and encourage us all to look forward...to what our ever-changing world will bring us next.