ART & POETRY BY PAUL & KATHY BOECHER©

School buses will roll this morning. Children will be photographed for the first day back to school. Sounds of laughter as old friendships are rekindled. New beginnings occur at this time of the year. New experiences, new friends, new challenges, new colors in the landscape, the crunch of acorns beneath your feet. Autumn is my favorite season of the year for many reasons. My husband and I were married in September and remained so for 60 years. My great grandson was born in this month. My honeymoon was spent visiting the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and enjoying the changes in the view. Change has always been a part of my existence. I’m sure most of my readers have experienced alterations to their lives over time. We live, we love, we grow, we nurture, we experience success and loss, we grieve, we are overcome with joy . . . and then we die. Death has no sting for those who believe in God and His amazing gift of salvation. His plan is beyond our comprehension, yet He made the final sacrifice Himself when His only Son hung on a rugged cross. That ended in death, but resurrection followed right on the heels of that event. Jesus came back to life so that we would also. Our death has been overcome and we receive the victory.

Give thanks to the Lord for His creation,
In His hands all things came into existence,
The trees perfectly designed and crafted to bring shade, comfort, and shelter,
The seas in all their majesty, blown into place by His breath,
Abundant with life, food for our stomachs and beauty to behold,
The sky is filled with the voice and color of His paintbrush,
A glimmering sunset, a rainbow of promise, clouds to gather the tears of man,
The secret places are His also, He formed great mountains from formless clay,
He carved the crevices from steely granite, penciled in the lines,
Washed the canvas with water, tweaked, punched, chiseled,
He created every living thing,
Formed from nothing into intricately executed works of art,
Giving the first man a likeness of Himself,
And the first woman taken from the ribs of the man,
To forever be a part of him,
God is the Creator of all things,
Let us praise Him and thank Him for His wondrous gifts,
And remind us that He created us to be the caretakers of His creation.