“Every blade in the field – Every leaf in the forest – lays down its life in its season as beautifully as it was taken up.“
~ Henry David Thoreau
Autumn is my favorite season. The cool, crisp air of September is a welcome respite from the sweltering dog days of summer. The woods surrounding our lakeside home pop in stunning crimson, gold, and bronze and I stand in awe of God’s masterpiece. How did He conceive something so majestic? He must have been very cheerful that day.
This is a photo of my favorite tree on our property. Although we live amid a canopy of magnificent sugar maples, it’s a lowly oak that volunteered in the middle of a flower garden that takes my fancy. There isn’t another oak near this one, yet its acorn was sown just off our bedroom balcony; probably by a squirrel with too many other treats in its mouth.
When you study the colors in this leaf, the reason I’m so enamored by it becomes obvious. (Click on the image for a larger view.) Surrounded by yellow maples, the variety of colors in it are breathtaking.
But it’s not the leaf’s beauty that impresses me most. This little guy is a reminder that each of us can survive… and even thrive… encircled by giants. Size doesn’t matter; its our character and determination to succeed that makes us victorious.
There is one bad thing about autumn… it is a reminder that a mean Minnesota winter is just around the corner.