Autumn is a constant reminder that “change” is the only constant. What today might be green, tomorrow begins its change to yellow, possibly light gold, eventually turning darker and darker to the rich hues of oranges, red, and brown. So, too, in our lives, we are never promised more than the next breath, the next heartbeat.

The psalmist David writes in Psalm 103:13-16: “The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. For He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone—as though we had never been here.”

Rather than depressing us, this hopefully compels us to make the most of every moment of every day, to take every opportunity to live, to give, to laugh, to pray, to speak a word, to—as the song says—“love like I’m leavin’ today.”  —submitted by Terry and Patricia Lampel, US