Fall is coming to DC, but oh so gradually!  I can’t help noticing how gracefully the trees are turning this year.  First I notice a little tip of yellow or red, then with the passage of days it deepens and moves toward all the edges.  Each morning I notice that gradually the color has seeped toward the center, while the brilliance of the greens still dominate each leaf.

I can’t help but think that there is a message for us in this gradual grace of changing colors.  When we are faced with difficulties or decisions or new avenues in life, we shouldn’t think that we must make some change all at once!  Not even Nature requires that the landscape change in an instant.

So, if we want change in our lives, if we want to make a decision to do something differently, we must be kind to ourselves and allow the change to take place gradually.  Love, forgiveness, compassion, altruism, new job, retirement – or any change we may want to make in our lives –  does not happen in an instant.  It gradually grows.  Perhaps we must be like the fall leaves and let the graceful change of colors and attitudes, decisions and life’s choices paint their beauty gradually on the palette of our souls.