Well, I tried to look for some statistic that says fall is without a doubt everyone’s favorite season. I expected to find some stat saying fall far exceeded all the other seasons, but I didn’t find it. Bummer. Fall is absolutely lovely though. Fall is cozy, crisp, and cool. Fall encourages us to dwell on all our blessings with Thanksgiving. Fall celebrates bonfires, football, warm blankets, scarves, light jackets, pretty trees, baking, soup, pumpkins, and candles.
When I think about what I want to teach my kids about fall, I first think of the lesson of seasons. Seasons can graciously remind us to mark time.
I have a tendency to live each day quite similarly to the one before it. It is easy to go on autopilot. But personally, I don’t want to live the same day over and over again, and that is what I do unless I am intentional to put a stop to it. Seasons say, “Yesterday was about beach balls and today is about bonfires.” I love that each season has its own traditions that can slow time down, teach us to savor the moment, and encourage us to do something different today than we did yesterday. It is wonderful!
Now, let’s specifically get to fall. There can be many, many things to teach them about fall, but I would like to pick one spiritual lesson and two practices.
There is a Season For Letting Things Go
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.”
There is literal dying, and then there is letting things go which is like death in a sense. A relationship can die, a dream can, or an old version of yourself can. But letting things go can also be very healing, and holding on can be the very thing that is robbing you of joy. Just like trees eventually release their leaves, there are things we need to release, and fall faithfully comes every year, physically demonstrating a spiritual lesson for us. We are lucky to have its reminder, otherwise we may never press into the lesson.
Some things we may need to let go of could be:
Our pre-pregnancy body
A critical eye
An expectation of another person
A previous version of our life
A previous version of ourselves
An apology we feel we are owed.
It is a good reminder to let go of the past, and embrace what is. Only in embracing and building on what is can an abundant life be found.
So, I would ask you, "What do you need to let go of?" That is what fall is asking you too.
Gratitude
Fall time with its celebration of Thanksgiving reminds us to be grateful.
Right now there is a quote taped to the mirror in my bathroom that says,
"The happiest heart that ever beat lay in some quiet breast,
That counted the common daylight sweet and left to heaven the rest." — Cheyney
Gratitude is one of the greatest gifts I can instill in my children. I can not force them to be grateful. I can not force them to be or do anything. However, I can encourage, celebrate, and reward practices that will ideally develop thankful hearts in them.
This year I plan to put a gratitude basket at our table, where I can collect slips of paper with written blessings. I can only hope that these kinds of practices will be formative to the character my children will someday develop.
Bucket List
Another practice I would like to teach my kids is a seasonal bucket list, celebrating to some extent that which the culture says this season is about. We will be drinking apple cider, making caramel apples and maybe popcorn (?), watching football, going to pumpkin patches, and more this year.
None of us can do everything, so making this list too long would only end up making me feel guilty, but I definitely want to choose some seasonal activities that state, "This is fall," to our family.
I am so grateful for seasons and holidays that remind us that time passes and that today should be savored. I am absolutely not a person who gets upset that there is Donut Day, Puppy Day, Teacher Day, and so on. I love the holidays. I love the seasons that remind us to look at life uniquely, to look at it through the lens of apples, football, and puppies. Life is wonderful, but it can feel drowned out by what feels ordinary if we forget to focus on something new.
So, this is what I plan to teach my kids about fall. I am here excited to celebrate it, and I hope you are too.
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