Fall Plantings

It's Friday...the day I take care of things around the house that I don't get to do all week. Errands to the grocery store, laundry, chores...the stuff that requires a large block of time that we don't have during the workweek. What I really want to do today is go the Home Depot, buy 6 bags of potting soil and some nice fall plants and spend the morning replanting the flowerbed around the sweetgum in the front yard. That sounds like much more fun than doing the laundry and cleaning the bathrooms.

Spring has always been the symbol of new beginnings, freshness and renewal. In the home we even call it 'spring cleaning'. But what about Fall? There is a new freshness in the air, children start a new year of school and there just a new crispness all around us. The children get new notebooks, pens, glue, paper...on my new book cover I would practice writing, 'Mrs. Alvaro Jose Martinez Cabal' about a hundred times ha! New friends, new teachers...Fall is just a time for new stuff, physically and mentally. Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to play outside but Fall Plantings and the new beginning that represents for me seems much more attractive.

So, if we're going to think of Fall as a time for new beginnings, what is the next step? I'll have to go farther than putting new plants in the flowerbeds. I need to look for more ways to take advantage of this opportunity. At our church there is an abundance of new studies and new opportunities for giving and volunteering my time. Opportunities for me to grow and maybe even make a difference in the lives of others. These opportunities are laying around everywhere...not just at the church. Our communities are full of people who could used some care and compassion. Let us all think of how we can take this season and make it meaningful...we don't have to wait for the new year for a new beginning. Plant something this fall!