“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers,” L.M. Montgomery. Such a beautiful sentiment and I feel that way today, perched in the swing, enjoying this glorious day the Lord has made. The sky is a deep azure, cloudless, bright and sunny, the yard full of songbirds singing their symphonies. I watched three small female finches take a bath together in the bird bath in the flower garden. They splashed all the water out with their happy bathing, then sat on the edge fluttering and drying their wings. I love quiet days like this where I feel God’s presence in nature’s beauty.

I think fall with its dark blue sky and its colorful leafy landscape tell us we are always surrounded by God’s goodness. The leaves die and fall from the trees but like the sunset they remind us that the end can be as beautiful as the beginning. William Cullen wrote “Autumn…the year’s last, loviest smile.” And autumn is smiling beautifully today!

I sat on the porch late afternoon eating a bowl of homemade soup thinking about how our faith is like a bowl of soup. I use chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce as a basis for my soup, add several different cans of vegetables, a little ketchup, some sugar. I think our Christian soup recipe is based on faith and hope and love. We have to have faith to believe in God, to trust in his wisdom and his words. We have to have hope to believe he hears our prayers and will answer them. We have to have his love in our hearts, too. God wants us to cry out for his sustenance when we need it, to be humble and ask for his help. We can’t give away our godly soup but we can share it with others, offering an invite to join us at God’s table.

I think the world is hungry for God right now, hungry for his love, warmth, and security. People are miserable and hurting, searching for some meaning in their lives. A good bowl soup warms us up just like our faith comforts us in times of darkness. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Just as we sit around with friends and enjoy a bowl of homemade soup, our Christian faith can bring us together, sharing our kindness and compassion through our words and our actions. “Jesus said, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” — John 6:35

“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” — Tecumseh