Color Draws

By Deena C. Bouknight

Fall is a fleeting season. Its resplendent peak is punctuated by strong gusts and hard rains – and then bareness for at least four months.

But during those few fallish weeks, when harvest colors abound, I find myself drawn to windows, car drives, bike paths, and hiking trails. To take in October in Western North Carolina is to be saturated soul-deep in the glow of rich hues. Light streaming through paper thin shapes. Breezes fluttering transparent oranges, reds, and yellows into layers and heaps.

There is beauty in this rapidly changing season. He could have kept the leaves the same year-round, reliable, yet tedious imagery month after month, year after year. He could have made all deciduous trees to slough dead brown leaves only.

Yet, our Creator chose fall as an episode of grandeur the likes of no human can truly capture (sorry, artist friends).

Leafers come in droves to witness His show. Literally millions pack Western North Carolina highways and byways to see leaves dying. Essentially leaves fast; they stop their food-making process. Interior chlorophyll breaks down and green disappears, leaving behind – only momentarily, and depending on species – brilliant yellows, vivid reds, and honeyed oranges.

Change and death typically do not cause one to sigh, mouth agape, and whisper awe-struck utterances. But some change does us good. And like the crescendo of an orchestra, the painterly palette of hillsides and mountains and forests ready us for darker days ahead. We are soul-filled and strengthened with such wonder that we can patiently endure bleak, chilled days and anticipate glorious renewal, restoration, growth. The season of light, of white and pastel florals, awaits us on the other end of winter’s austerity. Trees break forth their life and distinctiveness, and we yearn at summer’s wane for the beautiful holy change of fall once again.