One way I’ve learned to delight in the Lord and to enjoy this life He’s given me is to lean into the changing of the seasons. To cook and bake with seasonal produce; to go do the seasonal things; to notice, absorb, and celebrate the the newness of life around me, no matter how small.

Watching the seasons change is a philosophical mind game. The seasons come and go, summer, fall, winter, and spring on an endless carousel we keep riding. Fall approaches every year, and every year it’s the same, yet also, every year it’s different. When fall comes upon us, we could be experiencing extreme joy or sorrow, and the fall keeps falling, nonetheless.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us there is a time and season for every matter under heaven. God created seasons. There is something holy, mysterious, and bittersweet about the flow of change and turn of the calendars, year after year. After we’ve been in one season for a hot minute, it’s easy to look forward to the next, to daydream about what we want for the future and what we’ll be excited about one day.

The thing about delight is that it has to do with the present moment, not the future. It’s hard to delight in a cup of coffee that has yet to be brewed when there’s one sitting in front of us already, but we aren’t willing to enjoy it.  

Delight is a core value of mine and a key component of our wellness, I believe (more on that here). Noticing our current life and season takes practice, but when we’re in a funk, delight is often the missing puzzle piece that helps round us out and puts our soul at rest. 

This fall, I’m asking myself: 

What do I need to enjoy this fall? 

How can I delight in where I am this fall? 

What feels most attainable and autumn to me this year? 

Below are a few of my answers, plus more idea starters for you. Let me know in the comments—what’s on your fall bucket list? What are you most excited for this season?

MY FALL BUCKET LIST

1. Bake a pecan pie
2. Make pumpkin bread
3. Read a fiction book in a coffee shop
4. Watch Harry Potter
5. Paint pumpkins with friends
6. Arrange fall-colored flowers
7. Make a new playlist for September-November
8. Go to a concert
9. Go to a football game (of any level)
10. Host a tailgate watch party
11. Visit the local pumpkin patch
12. Also, the apple orchard 🙂
13. Host a dinner party and make specially designed invites
14. Set up a fall tablescape
15. Decorate with a few hints of fall festivity
16. Go on a walk sipping coffee/a warm drink with a friend in the cooler weather
17. Buy one new fall apparel item for my wardrobe
18. Rewatch Gilmore Girls
19. Write about my most vivid fall memories
20. Pray through Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
21. Set a goal for the next 90 days and track every ounce of progress
22. Create an autumn collage/vision board
23. Spend less than one hour on Instagram each day
24. Cook a new kind of soup
25. Walk around a park and/or body of water nearby