When they turn...

This morning I flipped the covers back, threw on my shorts, T-shirt and hat, brushed my teeth and headed out the door in flip-flops only to discover the air that was so hot yesterday has turned cold this morning.
 
It's time. The proof is in the leaves when they turn.

I noticed the sun beginning to sleep earlier than I'd prefer a couple days ago. I've seen the beautiful yellow fields turn rust before they were cut to the dry on the ground. I smell the dusty air as they work so hard all around to process what was seed only a few months ago.
 
I hear the sounds of a campus full of students and the banging of the new residence moving into our little apartment building. I've received emails from students new and old wanting to know when they get to come for lessons. I feel the twinge of nerves as I think about the first day of school because any good teacher knows that we learn just as much as we teach if we allow ourselves.
 
I saw them this morning. When I drove down the street to drop off paperwork and run errands. I saw them blowing in that air so cold this morning. They had turned and they had fallen from the heights. I looked up and it seems over night the bright green they have been all summer has begun to fade as the yellow pigment overtakes.

 
It doesn't seem real that the summer is nearing it's end here. I am sure we will have more warm weather before the geese begin their trip but there is nothing one can do to slow the process once they've begun to turn. 
 
So I take time today. In the cool of the morning, to enjoy watching them sway on the mighty bows that they have clung to through the past months. They have hung on for dear life this season as there has been much trouble in the weather. The wind, hail and unpredictable patterns have put these leaves through the ringer. But they've held on. With the strength He created in their thin stems in order to wait out His timing to change all sort of beautiful colours before beginning their decent.

I will take time to enjoy the beautiful colours that they will turn over the next weeks before they make their bed on the ground. It's in these subtle moments of change that God's plan for each season in my life is revealed.

I am so thankful for this, my favourite time of year, when they turn.
 

Ecclesiastes 3 (NASB)

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—

A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;A time for war and a time for peace.