Some of you, unlike me, are very fashion conscious. You wear the latest styles and always don the proper colors for each season. You brighten up the places you work in and visit. I know you have to spend a lot of time and effort, not to mention money, to achieve your fashion accomplishments. I appreciate the beauty and colors you add to our environment.

Have you ever consciously looked around at the fashions God clothes His creation with? Now is a good time to do just that. I drove down 8th Avenue North yesterday, between City Hall and the School of Fine Arts, and saw the fabulous colors on the trees lining the street. I thought about the fact that, in a few weeks, those colors will be gone and God will catch our eyes with other trees and plants he will don with their fall fashions. Then winter will advance, and the color of green that was so prevalent in summer will become fashionable again, coordinated with red berries and other little "jewelries" that beautifully touch-up the attire of the landscape. The drabness of the weather will make the evergreens and hollies stand out in beauty. Later, spring will come with little blooms and berries, in colors that will bring an excited anticipation of summer's approaching color palette. God does ail this by His power and grace, without, as it says in Matthew 6, the flowers and trees having to "toil and spin."

I know you're aware of this, but I just feel some of us need reminding that Jesus brought these things to our attention; in order for us to meditate on them, and be reminded that, "if God so clothes the grass of the field (trees, flowers, etc.)" with such "fashionable clothing," that will be raked up and thrown away tomorrow; HE tells us to not fret about the essentials of food, clothing, and shelter. HE knows we need all those things and will take care of us. HE tells us to just follow Him and serve Him, wherever HE plants us. Those trees and flowers that HE so beautifully clothes do just that. All they do is reach down into the soil for nutrients and reach up to the sun for the light required for them to be able to convert those nutrients into leaves, branches, bark, etc. God wants us to remember to imitate them. Reach down into the Word and fellowship with the saints for nutrition. Then reach up towards the Son for the light of His Spirit. (You reach up with prayer, praise, adoration, supplication, thanksgiving, etc. Any way that your focus is on Him causes Him to shine on you.) His light and His Word will result in your growing and blossoming in the proper times and seasons. You may be in the hibernation of winter's chill (dark times) in your life right now, as others around you stand out like evergreens and hollies. Don't despair. Let God grow you. You may be blossoming in summer's radiance (everything's lovely) while some around you are wilted in the heat. Don't look down on them. They will bloom in their appointed time. Let the Master grow His garden. HE knows fashion and commits no fashion "faux pas." Don't fret about the "necessities" of daily life. Look around you at the fall fashion of creation and know that your Creator will take care of you.

                                                              Ben