Autumn is among us. Temperatures are cooler, trees are beginning to change into warm, vibrant colors before releasing the drops of gold, red, and orange to the long-shadowed earth. My first poll on Aprons in the Kitchen asked readers to vote for their favorite season and 60% of you favored Autumn, I'm sure for your own reasons. There is an abundance of festivals, carnivals, and fairs to commemorate the season. Children and adults will dress in costume for fun. Yummy baked goods will be competed for in a circle-walking-music-stopping contest. Volunteers will be dunked in booths filled with water. Darts will be thrown at balloons. Goldfish will be won. Trailers of hay will be ridden. Tis the season for drives: food drives, coat drives, toy drives, shoe drives, clothing drives, and immunization drives. Tis the season for programs: Pilgrim Programs, Caroling Programs, Music Programs, Christmas Programs, Santa Programs, and Food Donation Programs. Tis the season for us fortunate Americans, who are in need of nothing, but in want for everything, to take part in one or more of these drives, programs, festivals, or carnivals. Tis the season for us fortunate Americans to share our joy, peace, love, and hospitality to those around us. If you are unable to locate something to in which to participate, you aren't looking. Every church, community center, school, organization, sports team, girls or boys club, city, or county has something this Autumn that needs your talent. Make it a family or group activity and enjoy that warm, cozy feeling inside when you catch the glimpse of a child's smile at the fitting of their new, warm coat, or the "thank you" from a quivering, single mom's lips when you take a box of much needed canned goods to her car.
As fortunate Americans we don't know what it is like to anticipate the cupboard to be bare or to feel the chill of the Autumn wind because we don't own a coat. Our kitchen pantry might not contain what we want or what we need for a certain recipe and we might be cold because we forgot our jacket or sweater, but most of us do not comprehend the experience of having nothing to eat and being uncertain when we will have something, or of looking outside at the blowing wind only to feel the chill before even stepping into it because we are without a coat. We may think what little bit we contribute doesn't make any difference but it does. It makes a difference to those we give to, and it makes a difference to us, when we give. It bonds to each other, regardless of social status, and it bonds us to God. Tis the season for a Happy Autumn!
