WISHING . . .

Not my house...but definitely "my" tree

Today is October 17th, on the downhill slide to the end of the month. And I'm wishing for autumn colors. Outside my big window I see nothing but green--lots of different shades and tints, but still, green.

A couple of my favorite trees in town have made a half-hearted attempt to color up. Half-hearted, I say, because there's a small area of colored leaves, and the rest, about 85%, still green.

Leaf color, I've read, comes about because of a couple of factors: (1) less light as autumn days "grow shorter," and (2) changes in temperature. Chlorophyll breaks down and the leaves stop the food-making process. Ergo, less green, more red/orange/yellow.

Okay, so I get up in the dark, and I go to bed in the dark. Sometimes I eat supper while the sky changes from day to night. I can attest to less light. Temperature? Our highs are ranging from 49 to 70 during the next 10 days. We certainly have changes, but consistently lower temps haven't found their way to my neck of the woods.

Looks like I'll be wishing for leaf color for a while yet.

Clearly, wishing for the leaves to turn their autumn colors is not going to have much effect. I can wish with all my might, pray without ceasing, and do any happy dance I can contrive--won't affect the leaves at all. (Magic wands don't work for me, either.)

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A better use of my time might be sending "good wishes" to folks who need support or encouragement. Notes, emails, texts,  phone calls . . . . And there's always prayer time to petition for good results, happy events.

Or offering up gratitude for blessings I enjoy--especially the ones I didn't work for or earn. Maybe that's the best definition of a blessing--a benefit unsought; a grace bestowed.

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As a much younger person, I know I wished for things--material goods, what I wanted to take place, a sudden bodily makeover (never did get taller, no matter how much I wished). 

Sometime along the way, the obvious began to sink in--if I wanted something a lot, I ought to throw away my magic lamp and think about working for it. Earn the money to buy the material goods--a house or car, clothing appropriate to my job; consider the event I wanted to happen to see if it really was a good thing for me--did I really want to be a best-selling author, devoting time to publicizing my book? As for the makeover, I (wisely) gave up on that one; I can affect my strength and stamina, even find a hair style that isn't too weird for my age and stage in life, but the only way I'll be taller is to go back to wearing three-inch heels. My feet tell me that's out of the question. (I always listen to my feet.)

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There's an old saying: "If wishes were horses, then peasants would ride." The occasion it was used would often be to a child who "wished" for something.

So, what's the point of wishing, you ask?

Maybe wishing is related to vision--seeing possibilities in the future. Perhaps encouraging ourselves to try something different.

Maybe it's also related to hope--we keep hope alive, until it becomes clear that what we wished for, what we hoped for, isn't going to become fact. (The important part is that we continue to hope.) And we can learn something about ourselves--an important life lesson.

The best lesson--the one that stays with me always--is that what I wish for may not be the best thing for me; but what I get, is always the best. Thanks be.