Gratitude Day 128

I am grateful for cycles

Regardless of where I travel in Northeast Ohio, there is wonderful scenery to behold.

Yesterday I was east of the city and my view was breathtaking.

I broke all the rules and snapped a picture while driving just so I could remember the moment and spectacular view.

I don’t think it is peak fall leaf viewing season yet, or perhaps it has passed.

But the reddish tree in the center view caught my attention.

Just one month ago it was green. Now it is breathtakingly beautiful clothed in red, even though the reddish hue indicates that soon the covering will fall and the tree will be left standing ugly and bare naked covered in cold snow.

But for now, it is shining. Showing off its color in eccentric glory as if to say “Look at me, I have the most beautiful life in the forest.”

When the tree sheds its leaves, I wonder if it knows it is no longer beautiful.

When its life cycle runs its course from green to red to cold and bare, I wonder if it looks forward to budding in the spring.

Life is cyclic for us all.

Up and down,

Colorful and drab,

Shining and dull,

Busy and bored,

Happy and sad.

Sunrise and twilight.

Life and death.

We just need to recognize that in an instant all can change and become new again.

“We mourn the blossoms of May because they are to wither; but we know that May is one day to have its revenge upon November, by the revolution of that solemn circle which never stops– which teaches us in our height of hope, ever to be sober, and in our depths of desolation, never to despair.”

― Henry John Newman

XO Lisa ❤️