I have always loved fall. When I moved to Florida from Tennessee when I was 11, I lost a real fall. Palm trees don’t change colors; the temperature does not really drop; and hurricane season is actually at its peak in September and October.
And yet, I love the season.
Back to school; back to routines; back to schedules.
Of course, I am learning that fall in West Texas requires a little more imagination than fall in North Carolina. Here, “crisp fall morning” can apparently be followed by “why is it 92 degrees?” by mid-afternoon.
We are well into the church’s fall season, even though the temperatures have not shifted much from summer. Still, fall has a way of doing something to us.
I have never met anyone who does not like fall: football, changing leaves, cooler temperatures—eventually—and different clothes and shoes.
But I think there is another reason I, and maybe you too, love fall.
Fall doesn't hide change.
Other seasons seem to sneak up on us. But fall announces itself. Leaves change color. Days get shorter. Temperatures begin to drop. The world around us looks different than it did just a few weeks before.
And somehow, it is beautiful.
Maybe that is what I need fall to remind me every year: change is not always something to fear.
We spend so much of our lives trying to keep things the same. We hold tightly to people, places, traditions, routines, ideas, and versions of ourselves because they are familiar. And familiar feels safe.
But creation doesn't seem nearly as frightened of change as we are.
The trees let go.
The daylight shifts.
The air cools.
The landscape changes.
And none of it means that life has stopped. It simply means that another season has arrived.
Maybe there is an invitation in that for us.
What if instead of immediately resisting every change, we became curious about it? What if we asked what this new season might have to teach us? What might we need to release? What new thing might God be growing that we cannot quite see yet?
I still love fall for the football and the change of wardrobe.
But maybe I love it most because every year it reminds me that change can be beautiful—and that God is still present in every season.
Even if fall in Lubbock only lasts until Tuesday.