Dr. Ashley Brooks

FALL IS HERE!!! Absolutely, without a doubt, the season of Fall is my favorite time of the year. The changing leaves, the brisk air, the coffee, the cute jackets and hats...(Oh come on... you ladies know Fall has cute clothes!)

Six years ago, the Lord took my husband and I to live in the Carolinas. There, the Season of Fall took on a whole new sensual dimension. The trees were hundreds of shades of yellow, orange, and brown. The air was crisp and cool. Yet, the smell was the most sensually striking change to me. During the Fall we began to smell the smoke from leaves and wood burning. The smell was magnificent and in a way comforting.

Over the past few months, God has been taking me on a spiritual journey and teaching me that all things have purpose and that they all point back to Him in some magnificent, only God can do, way. As I was talking with my 5 and 3 year olds about the changing seasons the Lord impressed something on my heart. My conversation started out something like this...

Me: I am SO Excited that Fall is finally here!! (Said enthusiastically as though everyone should agree with me.)

My 5 year old: Why? (Asked as though she needed some convincing...)

Me: Because...the weather is cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and it just smells good.

My 5 year old: Aren't the leaves dying? ( and then the convincing started taking a turn in the wrong direction)

Me: Well yes, Honey... but aren't they beautiful?

(Not to be left out the conversation) My 3 year old: I go run and jump in the leaves at Nana and PopPop's.

My 5 year old: That's because they're dead (she was talking about the leaves...)

Through this rather frustrating and comical conversation, God reminded me that the Season of Fall is actually the slow dying of nature around us. The trees, flowers, grass and plants are preparing for the coldness of winter. Leaves change colors right before they turn brittle and brown and then are stripped off the tree. Yet amazingly, this time of dying is absolutely beautiful. God, in his infinite ability to create purposeful demonstrations, creates a tapestry of beauty in the middle of what we understand to be the "falling apart" of life.

I talk to a number of people each day who are in the Fall Season of their life journeys. Their marriages are falling apart. Their children are making bad decisions. Pastors' and their wives are in churches that are severely wounding them. Each life seems to be on the brink of completely falling apart. Everywhere people look, death seems to be closing in on them. Situations, marriages, and even lives seem hopeless.

God knew we would experience the season of Fall in our life. I believe for this reason He gave us the literal example of the Season of Fall. When we experience this Season we can thoroughly enjoy the death of nature because we know that Spring is coming. We are not worried that the leaves are falling off the trees because we know that they will grow back in a few months. Because we know ALL things point to Christ and are made for Him and through Him, Fall reminds us of the death Christ experienced. Spring reminds us of His resurrection. We have hope because we know death is not final. The Resurrection gives us hope not only for eternal life, but life after what seems to death in our daily lives.

God is the Healer. He is the Life Giver. He is the Season changer. He is Hope. He is Peace. He is Beauty and He is Joy. God's magnificence can be seen in the midst of the dying situations of our lives. Like the leaves and wood burning in the Fall months, some how, some way, these situations which are burning up our lives can smell magnificent for God's glory. He makes beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3). He is the Breath of Life (Genesis 2:7). He creates the beauty of Fall in the midst of sickness and death.

I don't know what situation in your life seems as though it is dying, but we all have them. The enemy doesn't want you to see any possible beauty that God is crafting out of the hurt you are experiencing. But, wait on Him (Isaiah 40:31). Wait like you wait for Spring in the Winter. And while you are experiencing the season of Fall, sense (with all your spiritual senses) His awe-inspiring ability to paint beauty into dying.   

Catch you in the forum or in the devotionals.   

Looking forward to knowing you more!

Dr. A!