The Colors of Fall

Each year when the Fall of the year rolls around, something stirs deep within me. Memories flood my mind of some 39 years ago when I made my first trip to Mississippi. My parents had divorced and my father had remarried and moved to the deep South. I arrived in June or July, not sure which, but this I do remember...on my very first day there, I met Darrel. I remember the day several months later when I knew I loved him. We were driving to see his grandparents. They lived way out in the country. It was a wonderful cool Fall day and we stopped along the way to look at the leaves and colors. I remember drinking in the oranges, browns, yellows and maroons and thinking the trees were some of the most beautiful I'd ever seen. Maybe it was partly the intensity of the moment for me (after all, I am a nature FREAK) and the sights of God's hand at its' most beautiful, but I knew right then that it was not only the colors of Fall I was seeing but the colors of love.

You see, the colors of Fall make those first feelings of love come back to my remembrance with a vengance. The stirrings inside me that the depth of the colors brings about each year, warm my heart with long ago memories that I hold so dear.

The past 37 years of our marriage have seen many struggles, trials, tests and heartache, too numerous to mention. But, as each year passes and Fall approaches once more, God reminds me again of "The Colors of Fall" and the colors of our love. They are rich and deep and I am so thankful.