I remember learning during my freshman year at university while taking a psychology course about the effect of love on a child’s development. The study proved that a child who is loved is shown attention and demonstrates healthier development within their brain, and emotional, physical, and mental being. The studies demonstrate each human is born with a deep desire to be loved. Love.

One concept I have personally always enjoyed reflecting on and teaching to my young toddlers was the concept of opposites. Our libraries for my sons had tons of books illustrating this concept.

The opposite of up is down.

Light. Dark.

Happy. Sad.

Inside. Outside.

Big. Small.

Tall. Short.

The list goes on and on illustrating the relationship between the two items. Opening up the idea that the only way to recognize tall, or for tall to be considered tall, was to have something short in comparison. Comparison. Think, if everything was the same height or length there would be no such thing as tall or short. Even worse yet, we could only appreciate tall when short is present, rather than appreciating it irrespectively. Comparison is dangerous territory for it narrows our perspective. Comparison can lead us to see only in part and operate out of limited information. Too often this issue of comparison impairs our ability to walk with our living God. Paul addresses this in his letter to the Galatians.

You have heard it said days are long, but years are short when describing how fast time passes in life. Time has no regard for an individual’s decisions and the type of life those decisions build around the individual. Leaving the individual responsible for regarding time and how they choose to spend it. The source from which an individual draws on a minute-by-minute, daily, basis will in the end build a story, a living testimony, of how they regarded the time they were given.

What source are you drawing from? What well of life motivates each conscious and unconscious decision you make?

God is a nostalgic God. He built our brains to contain 100 billion cells, and each neuron can form tens of thousands of connections with other neurons, allowing our brains to store memories, process information, and think creatively. God designed the brain to need reinforcement to convert memories from short-term to long-term. Repetition or a strong emotion associated with the memory will make the neuron connections stronger. So it is no wonder the Holy Spirit inspired its writers to remind their readers of specific events.

Fall, a season of transition, moving us from our summer breaks into our more structured schedules. Typically during the summer time as the weather invites us to spend time outside either by the seashore or pool side, in parallel our yearly commitments (i.e. work or school) grace us with opportunity to travel and relax or unplug from the daily grind. Then Fall arrives. It calls us back to routine. Commitments. Schedules. Progress. Even Nature is in tune to the call of Fall. Trees begin to change colors. The sun becomes more illusive, resulting in shorter stints of daylight. Animal kingdom begins to migrate. This call, although seasonal and predictable (for we all know summer does not last forever), leaves us needing faith.