We have had cooler weather for some time now and I am relishing it!  Usually our cool down doesn’t happen until mid to late September, but the last of August has been so beautiful here.  I know I often mention my love for cooler temperatures and the promise of fall.  And every year, it happens exactly the same way.  We have a few cooler days, I get the itch to bake something, I fling open the windows and turn off the AC, and start to feel “homey”.  This year with the hustle and bustle of starting school it’s taken me a little while to get there, but I finally feel this rising anticipation for turning toward all things home.

I’m currently reading The Life Giving Home by Sally & Sarah Clarkson and LOVE everything about this book.  This mother/daughter duo does a remarkable job of taking you on a month by month journey through the year and examining what makes a home and what makes a family.  What are the focuses for your family each month?  Challenges? Holidays and birthdays to celebrate?  The subtitle is “Creating a place of belonging and becoming”.  I love that.  As a mama and wife, I completely understand that I am the thermostat for our home.  While I often fail miserably at this, I do understand that my attitude and outlook shapes the attitudes of my family.  I strive to create a place of belonging for Kenny and the kids – a place they WANT to come home to.  I strive to make our home a refuge from the busyness of the world and a place they can rest and recharge. There are many times when we’re in survival mode and there is no creating happening – I’m lucky if we all have something to eat and clean clothes to wear.  But when we’re not in this mode, I love taking the time to make home a refuge for them.  Picking up the clutter, lighting a candle, playing music, cooking or baking something yummy, and turning my heart to God in order to adjust my attitude.  This is my goal and something I SO enjoy reading about.  It fuels my creativity and gives me inspiration and motivation to go the extra mile to make our home warm and inviting.

So, back to the nearness of Fall.  As I opened this book to dive into the September chapter, I was thrilled to read about this very topic.  The title alone told me it would be right up my alley: “When Seasons Change – Gathering In for Home and Soul”.  Here are some thoughts from the chapter that stood out to me:

“This practice of renewing our vision for home and one another comes naturally in autumn because fall is the season when the world turns cooler and the heart turns homeward.  Autumn is the time in which we recognize home as a strong ship, caulked and tight, our stronghold and safe place as we sail the high oceans of winter…and life.  Autumn is the season of endings and ingatherings as summer wanes and we stock cupboards and souls against the coming of winter.”

“To gather in can also mean to keep out what would compromise the life we want to create in the spaces of home…The point of home is to be a refuge for the soul, a place where beauty can be encountered, truth told, goodness touched and known.  It’s why home needs hush as well as bustle, silence as well as song.”

“How joyous a thing it is to arrive on the doorstep of a home whose windows are golden with waiting light, where soup is on the stove and the cupboard is stocked against any number of unexpected storms.  A home like that feels almost like a person itself, with arms open to receive the weary.”

Isn’t that beautiful?  These thoughts encourage me to create this place called home into a place of beauty and refuge for my family.

Is autumn one of your favorite seasons?  Why?  Does this idea of gathering in and creating a place of refuge inspire you?  What are a few things you could do as the weather begins to cool to ‘turn towards home’?

**Pictures are from the maple tree in our backyard starting to turn colors
**With all the rain we had this week, Pikes Peak had it’s first snow!