I had been greatly enjoying my walks since the discovery of my new photography hobby. But lately I haven’t been as enthused to go outside to walk with the beauty of summer beginning to fade. 

Once the many vibrant shades of green begin to brown, and the beautiful wildflowers of every variety and color begin to die off, so does my desire to walk among them. Everything just looks dull and drabby. With autumn quickly approaching, the grass is drying up and leaves starting to fall, and so were my spirits.

Recently as I walked through our field lamenting the ending of summer and all the beauty I had so enjoyed, the Lord said that the beauty is still there. Sometimes you just have to look harder to find it.

So I started to look harder, and to my surprise the beauty once again burst forth. Some was immediately evident, with the towering goldenrod blooms swaying in the breeze all around me. But some I had to look carefully for, and there they were, closer to the ground.

I saw little purple asters, purple and white clover, tiny blue Forget-Me-Nots, and many other tiny pink, yellow, white, and purple flowers dotting the ground. But then something unusual caught my eye – the most beautiful shade of brown I’ve ever seen.

There was a small branch laying on the ground before me with brown leaves clinging to it. That color brown was such a beautiful shade that I picked up the branch to take with me. But then there were more. Some tall weeds with the same shade of brown leaves were lying beside the path, and I also picked some of them.

I know autumn is coming and there will once again be abounding beauty in the red, yellow and orange leaves. There will be various shades of Mums, pumpkins and Indian corn. Vibrant colors will once again be plentiful. But it’s during in between seasons that we can lose the color and spark of life and have to look harder for the beauty.

There are times in our lives when everything just looks dull and drabby, and there doesn’t seem to be anything to get excited about. The beauty of life has faded and died. It comes at times of sickness and disease, or recovery from accidents or surgeries. We get weary waiting for strength and wholeness to return so we can get back to living again.

It can happen at retirement, or when jobs or ministries come to an end. We no longer have the purpose that once got us out of bed each day, and boredom, discouragement and depression can set in. We may not know what’s ahead in the next season, and are just enduring this in-between time.

There are times of grieving the loss of loved ones that seem unbearable. We don’t have it in us to even attempt to look for any beauty in life. The in-between season of mourning is especially hard as there’s no way to know when the next season of our lives will begin, when we can move on to try to live again.

In-between seasons are just plain hard. But no matter what season we’re in, there is always beauty to be found. We just have to look a little harder to find it, and it may not be what we’re expecting. It just may come in shades of brown.

Hope Ministries is a Christian counseling center, and we are here to help. If you would like to speak confidentially with someone, give us a call at 845-482-5300.

Hope Ministries is a Christian counseling center, and we are here to help. If you would like to speak confidentially with someone, give us a call at 845-482-5300.