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My Aunt Mary liked the seasons but she loved autumn the best. She loved the color of different leaves. I took her leaves every fall. I will never forget how she always used to put them into her bible as keepsakes. They were precious memories for me, but I didn't know she was going home so soon.
Aunt Mary knew "real life" and she loved it. She always told me "Child, real life is found in knowing Jesus, accepting His gift of salvation with faith and obedience."
link Joan Clayton
Yes, Aunt Mary loved this wonderful, beautiful season and I do to. I love the crisp evenings and the tinge of coolness. I love to see daybreak and the golden hues with scarlet brilliance displaying God's beauty.
God paints the landscape with spectacular colors. As I go around seasons, I am tempted to say, "Soon your leaves will be gone and your branches will be bare." I will be looking out my window on a cold winter day and it will appear that all life is gone but I know when spring comes it will burst with new life.
So it is with that loved one who is laid to rest. "The death of one that belongs to the LORD is precious in his sight" (Psalm 116:15, NCV).
In God's timing the dead will be brought back to life again. 1 Corinthians 15:35 explains the process. "When you put a seed into the ground it doesn't grow into a plant unless it 'dies' first. And when the green shoot comes up out of the seed, it is very different from the seed you first planted."
"The angels in heaven have bodies far different from the beauty and the glory of our bodies" (1 Corinthians 15:40, (TLB).
"But look! I tell you this secret: We will not all sleep in death, but we will all be changed. It will take only a second-as quickly as an eye blinks-when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet will sound, and those who have died will be raised to live forever, and we will all be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, NCV).
Whether it is fall in its beauty, winter in its challenge, spring in its promise or summer in its sunshine, the point to be made is to enjoy the seasons of the year in the season of our lives.
Aunt Mary knew her time would soon be gone. She said to me, "Real life makes me happy. Live today and live it well. Make every day a memory of joy and make every tomorrow a day of love. Today can only be lived today. Find the love in it. God's wonderful surprises wait to be discovered."
I know Aunt Mary is happy and I think she has golden leaves!
"He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV).
Portales resident Joan Clayton is a retired teacher and published author. Her e-mail address is: