I love fall.  I love the way the cooler weather freshens things up.  I love apple-picking, pumpkin-carving and the start of school.  And I love watching the leaves change color.  Sometimes I am afraid it’s going to happen too quickly and I am going to miss it all.

I love the yellow-greens and bright fiery oranges and the deep reds. 

I love all the bright-colored fall leaves, but I don’t like the murky purple-brown leaves.  I have always tried to ignore them… until one day when I realized that God had made that color, too.  He chose it on purpose – he designed it.  But it’s so ugly!  I thought –

And in my heart I realized I feel the same way about my emotions as I do about leaves. 

I like the bright, sparkly emotions like happiness, laughter, excitement, rejoicing… but I try to ignore sadness, anger, mourning…

But God made all of my emotions – they are all part of the palette… maybe I should accept all the “colors” of my emotions __

Ignoring them hasn’t really worked anyway!

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…

Ecclesiastes 3:4