seasons - Ellen Chauvin | Soaked & Sprouting

The Dog Days of Fall

September 17, 2020 by Ellen 9 Comments

While the majority of the country celebrates the fall season, down here in the south, we are in the midst of hurricanes and heat. There was somewhat of a cool spell, which actually means lower humidity. Temps did fall into the mid-eighties, which was a blessing. If we turn the air conditioner on super cool, we may be able to make a gumbo!

The heat wave makes it difficult to move. We plod along, one day to the next. Scripture reminds me that one say soon, we’ll see a different season.

I’ll blame this post on the heat. Only photos, not many words. Because words expend much needed energy – which I can’t seem to muster up right now.

Enjoy these photos, some of which look a tad bit like fall!

We’ve had a major influx of dragonflies this season. It’s a challenge trying to shoot them (with the camera, of course!).

I do believe if 2020 was a picture, this would be it:

Beautiful, yet crazy!

Here are a few bright spots, and the colors remind me fall and cooler weather is near:

If you notice, this beautiful Bird of Paradise has a teardrop in her eye. That’s because we were anticipating Hurricane Laura would rip her apart. It was a sad, but needless goodbye. She survived!

Mostly my zinnias are the soft pink colors of spring. They have surprised me lately with rich red and orange colors of autumn.

“There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build” Ecclesiasties 3:1-3 NIV

A Season of Change

November 2, 2017 by Ellen 6 Comments

I watched the leaves fall today. It was a beautiful thing to see them twirling and dancing from the tip tops of the tallest trees, all the way down to the green grass. Yes, green. Even though the calendar says it’s Fall, and there are pictures of colorful foliage all over Facebook, here in south Louisiana we’ve yet to see the leaves change.

Fall is rather sudden down here. One day it’s hot, the next it’s cold. Our leaves are green, then brown, then they fall. No gradual turning from green to golden yellow, to crimson or orange. Green, brown and down.

That’s kinda like what’s going on in my life right now. Lots of change. Sudden change. I don’t like that.

If you were a fly on the wall, watching me trying to navigate this change, you’d probably think “Oooh, that girl does NOT like change of any kind!” By all appearances, that’s what it looks like. But it isn’t the change so much as the way it’s happening. Really fast. Like south Louisiana changing from summer to fall. Overnight. No chance to get the cold weather clothes fluffed and puffed.

I’ve not been able to process all that is happening. You know, mull things over. Abrupt changes throw me. I want to know the why’s and the how’s and then make a plan. At the rate life is speeding by, I have purposed to be more slow and intentional. No so, with this change. Green, brown and down.

And do you know the one thing I want most during this change? My mama.

Mama would listen while I talked it all out with her. She would understand. I can hear her now: “Darlin’ I sure hate that for you!” Mama was my safe, comfortable place.

Many times in the midst of changes and upheavals of life, our first instinct is to revert to what we know best. Our comfort zone. The place we feel safe.

[tweetthis]We look back fondly to what was, instead of looking forward to what could be.[/tweetthis]

We’re not alone in this. The Israelites were the same way. When God was leading them out of Egypt, after 400 years of slavery, He didn’t take them the shortest route toward the Promised Land. God led them the long way around.

‘Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”’ Exodus 13:17

You see, He knows our hearts, our fears and our fight or flight tendencies. He knows us better than we know ourselves. God knows our first instinct: go back to what we know, something or some place safe.

Knowing this, He takes us the long way around. No green, brown and down for God! He’s going to lead us through seasons of change. And if we will just yield, and follow Him, we’ll be able to watch the leaves slowly turn: green, yellow, crimson, orange.

Grace be with you,