By Ralphine Major

Shorter days. Leaves turning. Cool mornings. Start of schools. Bounty of fall fruits. Countdown to football. Afternoon’s casting of long shadows. Looks like signs of fall are upon us. With the warm days of summer beginning to wind down, I stop to catch my seasonal breath and ponder the fact that it is already mid-August.

We are navigating through the second year of a pandemic. Especially as schools across the country are opening, daily debates continue on whether or not students and teachers should wear masks. Some places still encourage social distancing, and more in-person events are taking place. Warnings are announced nearly daily about the possibility of a corona spike in the fall.

For a moment, I will clear my mind of mandates and fears, worries, and pandemic problems that linger with us and find joy in the early morning song of a bird or the glimpse of a fluttering butterfly and peace in the beauty of a sunset painted by our Creator in the evening sky.

Words of Faith: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Galations 5:22-23 (KJV).