AUTUMN FLORA

The rain and snow and wind remove debris. The cold slows the sap. Respiration stops as an open hibernation takes place for the whole world to view. Plants are cleaning themselves, showering away the old fashions, preparing to rest naked under a blanket of snow. Waiting for God to stimulate the life blood within, to regenerate as a new year (or season) arrives. Nature is teaching us how to carefully, systematically prepare ourselves to be cared for by the world as it moves around and through us. We can watch just for the sake of the beauty. We can watch and take away a lesson. We can watch it all happen so slowly that time seems to stop. We can visualize ourselves cleaning out our closets. Giving our discarded things to be used by another, the way the forest reuses the leaves. They are a bed for animals. They are a warm blanket for perrenial flowers and plants. They are fertilizer for new seeds. The earth teaching us to recycle and how to do it. Oh, God is good! If you don't learn the lesson the first time, He's patient and will teach it again next year. Like a professor in a college.