The sunset was so beautiful tonight in its simplisticness. The dusk was soft and warm and the sun slowly set, rolling down the horizon in silver beauty beaming white rays of sunlight to kiss the the tops of the trees, to warm the cardinals’ wings and the fluffy tails of the squirrels. As the sun began taking the day’s light away, Mother Nature took her paint brushes and brushed the horizon in pale peach and ripe apricot shades, topping the layers of color with vanilla whipped cream clouds. I imagined the earth as a wedding dessert, layers of ice cream sitting in a beautiful crystal compote, topped with a dollop of whipping cream.

I love trees, watching the colors that change as the seasons bloom, the glorious shades of the fall leaves, the wondrous colors of the greening leaves in the spring. Been reading poems about fall today, searching for inspiration. A very short poem by ee cummings reads “a leaf falls on loneliness.” Imagine being the only leaf left on a naked cold tree branch, a symbol of the lonely days of coming winter, waiting for the right moment to let go and return to the earth. I always wondered if the fall leaves look forward to dancing to the ground or do they quiver wondering when the wind will pluck them off. I was walking Penelope and the water oak next door showered us with yellow leaves quietly spiraling to the ground. Even Penelope stopped sniffing and looked up at the tree to watch the leaves dancing down around us. It was our first fall shower of leaves.

I love Joyce Kilmer’s poem Trees and the way he describes a tree. I think we memorized this poem in elementary school because I can’t explain why I can recite it. I think his poem is a hymn to praise God’s creation, specially the towering trees. My favorite stanzas are “A tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray; a tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair.” I love the imagery of the birds in the trees’ leaves. And I’ve always thought the trees pray to God in thanksgiving for sunshine and rain. I think Kilmer is expressing that man’s works of art cannot match the magnificence beauty of God’s creations.

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 is another of my favorites. Shakespeare’s sonnet speaks of aging and the passage of time. He has a few lines about autumn that I love. “That time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves or none, or few, do hang upon those boughs which shake against the cold, bare ruin’d chorus, where late the sweet birds sang.” I can just see a songbird chorus in my old oak tree, sitting in line on a naked branch, singing their symphonies in thanksgiving for their tree choir lofts. Beautiful!

We should be very thankful for the beauty in our world. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Bible scripture teaches us that God created a beautiful earth as a testament to his glory and grace and goodness. Every day I wake up and marvel at the earth’s beauty. As I wake, I see the sun filtering through the bamboo forest and when I take Penelope our for her morning walk I see the deep blue fall sky, the snow white clouds, the yellow dandelions, the tiny pink wild flowers. I feel the warm sun on my face. I listen to the songbirds’ symphonies and the squirrels’ chatter. And now that it’s fall, I’m enjoying Mother Nature’s painting the trees’ leaves with her wondrous autumn colored watercolors.

God’s earth heals and comforts us with it beauty. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human hearts; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Find time to bask in the glorious fall that God has created for us.

“Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.” — Elizabeth Lawrence