Psalm 119.49-50
Remember Your word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life.

The beautiful leaves from a few days ago are gone, stripped by heavy rains and gusty winds, blown away towards New Hampshire. The bare sticks of the maples reach heavenward, revealing the gentle Green Mountains that have been hidden by the trees since spring. Now the summer's infinite shades of green are being replaced by a variety of browns and grays, all selected from God's palette. Vermont is putting on its late fall garb, an easing into the stark whites of winter.

I have been blessed for eight years by this view from my living room window. The sheer display of color, of shadings and hues, reflect God's sense of beauty and His creativity. I know that what I see is a speck, a fleck, a mote, an infinitesimal sampling of that beauty and creativity, but it is all I can comprehend and absorb. This sampling of the Shalom that is to come with the new heaven and new earth, gives me incentive to press on with the work of the Kingdom of God. It shows me that God has a love of order and harmony that transcends the rage and destruction that is the hallmark of the kingdom of Man.

Thank You, LORD, for this gift of a Lord's Day afternoon to be refreshed and rejuvenated.