First, for those who enjoy my Wednesday video-post, there’s a good chance I’ll make a new one for tomorrow. So don’t give up on me just yet!

     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

 What do workers gain from their toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 2)

Tuesday I took my parents to see the excellent gardens at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. It was a nice way to enjoy the great outdoors, and Mum and Dad have always been big fans of “touring the grounds.”

And so, especially considering the weighty and theological tone of yesterday’s post (The Bible is 100% True), I thought that today I’d simply share a gallery of photographs from yesterday’s delightful garden stroll.

It’s late in the summer, and fall is certainly in the air around here, so much of the colorful flora is faded. But the walks are lovely and the magnificent collection of trees made for a very interesting afternoon.

What I realized, in appreciating the more muted tones of a garden preparing itself for fall, is the critical importance of the regeneration phase of any growth cycle. It’s not all about spectacular color and vivid show; it can’t be. It’s not just that an organism cannot sustain that kind of presentation, it’s also that there is beauty and purpose in every season.

“Beauty and purpose in every season.” Oh well, there I go getting all spiritual again.

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens…

…(God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 

Enjoy the slides (click for larger image) – DEREK