The Arrival of Autumn
posted by on 09/23/07
It’s hard to believe that autumn has already arrived! It doesn’t seem like a full year since I last heard the tell-tale sound of brown and yellow walnut leaves crackling underfoot. The mornings are cooler, the breeze is crisp, and the days are growing shorter. Though most of the foliage is still as green as mid-summer, blotches of color in the trees announce the wake of colder weather.
Capturing the feeling and essence of the changing seasons with a light-sensitive sensor in a light-tight box which produces a flat, two-dimensional arrangement of pixels can be a considerable challenge! Notwithstanding success or failure, I find it an enjoyable challenge worth confronting.
Whether a leaf is green and alive or faded and dead, it fulfills the role for which it was created. On the tree, a leaf works to produce sustenance through photosynthesis. On the ground, it provides sustenance through decomposition. The intricacies of creation are everywhere if we have the eyes to see them. “I sing the goodness of the Lord that filled the earth with food; He formed the creatures with His word and then pronounced them good. Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed where’re I turn my eye: if I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky!” - Isaac Watts
The analogy of a leaf’s purpose while ‘alive’ and then after ‘death’ reminds me of the joyous testimony of Paul in Philippians. “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.” As a resident of the eternal Kingdom of heaven, we exist in a win-win situation!
What a fellowship - What a joy divine!
Well-said James. It’s great to picture the changing scenes of West Virginia. Your two-dimensional arrangements of pixels were a considerable encouragement!
Ahhh! I love the crispness of autumn’s air and the nippy fall breezes that scatter brilliantly-colored leaves in a myriad of directions as they drift lazily downward from treetop to forest floor. You’ll sure have a lot of fun taking photography this time of year James! As you wander with your camera through woods and forest glades, may your soul sing out to the Creator, “How great Thou art, how great Thou art!”
The Lord continue to give you eyes to see.
Dad