It’s getting colder here in Ukraine. I am beginning to feel the chill and don’t relish the thought of leaving the house to stand in line at the bus stop or walk to the metro station. I wrote a blog about fall around this time a year ago (wow…I’ve been blogging for well over a year now, I can’t believe it!). A blog about how much I love fall and all the color changes and the things related with fall like apples and pumpkins, etc. I still love all of these things and fall is still my favorite season of the year. So I was caught off guard when I was looking for a good poem or quote about fall and read 
that most Autumn poetry is associated with feelings of melancholy. The quote says, “The possibilities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Skies turn grey, and people turn inward, both physically and mentally.” I suppose I can understand these feelings and I sense these sentiments from the people I pass by
everyday here in Kiev. A lot of people
walk around with a sad aura hanging over them, as if they believe what Rainer Maria Rilke (a German Poet) says:
Who now has no house, will not build one (anymore).
Who now is alone, will remain so for long,
will wake, and read, and write long letters
and back and forth on the boulevards
will restlessly wander, while the leaves blow.
Fall, also known as Autumn or at one time “Harvest”, should be a time of celebration and joy. God called His people to have feasts and parties during this time of the year, to revel in all the hard work they had done the rest of the seasons in planting and growing their crops. Perhaps one of the problems
today is that most people aren’t involved in farming anymore. People continue to work hard throughout the year and 
possibly never stop to celebrate, or maybe even don’t see any reason to celebrate. They may not see any “fruit” coming from the work they are doing or not enough fruit to keep them from being hungry.
I think the people here in Kiev are hungry, and of course I don’t mean lives with physically. They are trying to fill their entertainment…whether that be work, music, drugs, sex, alcohol, 
games, etc. All those worldly things never fully quench the thirst in all our souls. They are hungry for something to bring them true joy and happiness. Something that will cause them to want to celebrate and see the good in the harvest time. I pray that as the colors are changing that the people will change as
well. That they will begin shed all the burdens from their lives and let them fall to the ground. That they would die to themselves so that God can cause them to grow again into the kind of vibrant, living joyful creations He meant for them to be!
