So summer has come and gone so quickly and it seems even the weather knows it's turned September now. I've been trying to get in a few last days at the outdoor pool this week since it won't be long before it closes. The numbers of people who go have slimmed and often I end up there alone, and love the solitude, love listening to the breeze, love listening to the birds and kids playing around the corner.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, though, so I'm looking forward to the months ahead. I love taking walks in the crisp clean air in my favorite hoodie in the still-warm-enough but not-too-hot late afternoon sun, listening to the leaves blow in the trees and later crunch under my feet. I love campfires and s'mores, I love snuggling under heavy blankets, and love seeing all the colors the leaves turn in the woods around our house. So as much as I'll miss the lazy summer days by the pool when I had the chance to do that this year, I'm looking forward to all that fall brings as well.

I also love fall because it reminds me of my wedding day (my fourth anniversary is tomorrow, September 4th!). We got married outdoors by the water on Fidalgo Island in Washington State. Then we honeymooned in Cape Cod and Boston. What wonderful memories! The time has gone so quickly. I sure got myself a good hubbie! ;)

Much like the seasons just starting to change around me, I also have a restless sense that God may be changing the seasons in my life as well. I long so much to hear His voice, to know His shepherding and guidance, and to do His will. Life is always full of so many options, so many challenges, so many unknowns, so many choices, so many things out of our control. But the seasons come and go, that never stops - in the natural, and in our lives as well. I have been thankful for the previous season, and though the things to come are unclear, I will choose to be thankful for this season as well. For through it I know the Lord is constantly causing me to grow, molding, breaking, and shaping me, and taking off the things of this world and trading them for Kingdom things - eternal things. I want my life to give Him honor in all things....just as it talks about in Jeremiah:

"'How can we honor our God with our lives, The God who gives rain in both spring and autumn and maintains the rhythm of the seasons, Who sets aside time each year for harvest and keeps everything running smoothly for us?'" (Jeremiah 5:20, The Message)

Lord, help me to always honor You with how I live my life, in every season and in all things. Remind us how your eye is on even the sparrow and that we are never out of your sight. May Your will be done in each of our lives, in every season, for all our days.