Finally. The temperatures are cooling, some rain has fallen, the trees are turning color, and the days are getting shorter. Though I love the long days of summer, I am ready for the evenings inside where I am forced just to rest.

I love the fall. Though I enjoy all the seasons: the restlessness of spring, the long evenings of summer, and the storms of winter, fall is my favorite. It is peaceful. It is quiet. And above all, it is beautiful.

The other evening at Bible study we had  potluck and at every table were fall related questions for us to answer and get to know each other a little better. My three favorite questions, if I remember them correctly, were 1) What is your favorite fall color? 2) What event tells you fall has arrived? and 3) What is your favorite fall smell?

All of the colors were mentioned though for me, I think it is the combination of the oranges, reds, and yellows that make fall so spectacular.

As for when fall begins, for some it was back to school, for others it was cool enough temperatures to start making soup, but for me it was when college football took over Saturday afternoons.

The answers for favorite smells were the most surprising. I was heading right for the food smells (no surprise there)--the spice, the pumpkin--but found myself agreeing with the others: the smell of burning dust when you turn the heater on for the first time, the smell of settled dust after the first rain, or the smell of someone’s wood stove or fireplace.

So what is fall to you? Is it when you start to get your sweaters out, stock up on hot chocolate, or go to the library to secure a stash of books to read? I hope you share but regardless, have a wonderful fall season.

I had one of those weeks last week. I’m sure you have had them, too, at some point. Those weeks when all of your hard work goes either unnoticed or unappreciated or gets undermined, and you get discouraged. Then this discouragement seeps into the rest of your life, and you feel very much alone.
      I am learning that discouragement is Satan’s “special tool” to misdirect our sense of worth and sense of self because discouragement is the result of our computing our value by what others recognize or think about us. As Ps. 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses . . . .” There are days and weeks when I have put my trust in the chariots and the horses.
      But I am not going to give Satan the lion’s share of this blog. I want to spend the majority of it focusing on God’s remedy for discouragement--Hope. Ps. 20:7 finishes by saying “. . . But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
      When I get discouraged, it is because I have forgotten that all the circumstances of that week have been filtered through God’s fingers. Despite what it looks like to me, God is in control and is at work during these times. As Paul says in Romans 8:28, ”And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” That’s part of the reason for my discouragement. I had my own purposes in mind when things didn’t live up to my expectations.
      The word “discouraged” appears only eight times in the New King James Version of the Bible, but the words “trust” and “hope” and “peace” and “strength” as well as God’s reminder that he is always with us and his timing is perfect appear countless times. I think it best to let God’s word do all the talking at this point. Below are some of my favorite reminders.

     “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Prov. 3:5
     “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts You.” Is. 26:3-4
     “Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27
     “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Gal. 6:9
     “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” Ps. 31:24
     “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
     “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Rom. 15:13

     Finally, I am not sure who sent me this quote or where it came from, but it seems an appropriate one with which to close:

     “If you know that God’s hand is in everything, you can leave everything in God’s hand.”

I love the movies. The love affair started with the big screen debut of The Sound of Music when I was eight and was life changing when I saw Camelot at eighteen and decided to become a screen writer. (Still working on that one!) Since then, I have viewed many movies, some that have touched me deeply and others that have left me wondering why anyone would have invested money to produce them.

Recently, my mother and I went to see War Room, she for a second time, and I for the first.  My main reason for going was to see how good Priscilla Shirer was as an actress. (She is a well known bible study writer and leader whom I admire.) I am extremely glad I left with so much more than a favorable critique of a novice actress. What a powerful, powerful movie. I left moved, uplifted, encouraged, and challenged. Those feelings took me back to a short letter to the editor written many years ago by a local man who was praising Cal State Chico for rejecting an art exhibit which was morally degrading. I quote part of that letter below.

“If Art is a vehicle through which man becomes more human and less barbarian, more sensitive and less unfeeling, more understanding and less ignorant--more alive and less dead--then we should have the moral backbone to stand up for what is actually art and refuse to tolerate that which calls itself art but actually degrades, demoralizes, and dehumanizes man in the name of ‘realism,’ ‘expressionism,’ ‘naturalism--’ whatever the guise under which it hides.” -- Greg Pate

Though written almost thirty years ago, Pate’s words are still valid because much of what hits the theaters today is indeed degrading, demoralizing, and dehumanizing and seeks to show the worst of human nature in the name of “realism,” “expressionism,” or “naturalism.” I am thankful and would like to applaud and support those film makers (both Christian and secular) who strive to create a product that encourages us to be more sensitive and understanding and human, but even more importantly, more Christlike.

Once again, God in all His wisdom, knows that what we feed our minds will be what nourishes our soul, and so through Paul’s letter to the Philippians reminds us that -- “. . . whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.” (Phil. 4:8)

Satan would love us to ingest his daily diet of hatred and fear, of self-justification, self-gratification, and self-glorification. He would love us to lick our lips around unsavory language as we claim these words appropriately convey our feelings. He would love us to indulge in off color jokes and debase topics as they excite our most base desires. But that food does not satisfy our soul. That food leaves us still hungry and feeling worse about ourselves, not better.

So I congratulate the Kendrick brothers, Affirm Films, FaithStep Films, Red Sky Studios, and TriStar Pictures for producing War Room, a quality film that not only addresses issues of the heart but provides the answers as well. I look forward to other movies that do the same.

Every so often I encounter a week that is a teacher’s equivalent of the Perfect Storm. Papers from every class (you’d think after all the years of teaching, I would have figured  out how to avoid this), individual student conferences, meetings and appointments after school, plus a host of personal responsibilities.

This past week was one of those weeks. I could tell it was one for my students as well as they began the week with that glazed look that accompanies shock and then by the end of the week, they just looked weary.

However, there was no avoiding what was coming, and so all we could do was buckle down, dig in, and “get ‘er done.” Surprisingly, as usual, the tasks were completed, a little at a time. For me, it helped to pull out just fifteen papers and twenty sets of note cards a day to grade and not look at the piles still waiting. For my students, it was focusing on each step in the process rather than the entire project itself. By only focusing on the small tasks to complete, the larger jobs were completed by the end of the week.

God obviously knew our limitations when He told us in a multitude of different ways not to look ahead to tomorrow, but only focus on today. (Matt. 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things . . . .) In His infinite wisdom he only lets us see so much at a time. (Ps. 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet/ And  light to my path. Notice not a huge searchlight lighting up the entire road.)

God also knows that the weight of responsibilities will weigh heavy on us, and He encourages us to let Him shoulder the load. (1 Peter 5:7 . . . casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you.; Ps. 29:11 The Lord will give strength to His people/ The Lord will bless His people with peace. Is. 41:13 “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not; I will help you.’”)

Finally, the week does end, the load is lightened, and there is time to be refreshed. (Ps. 3:5 I lay down and slept;/ I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. Ps. 23:2-3 He leads me beside the still waters./ He restores my soul.)

And my all time favorite verse of comfort: Phil 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I need to remember that God is God in the midst of the storm . . . even the Perfect Storm.