Just me and my goofy little five-year old, out in the cool October sunshine. It was wonderful.

I love the fall.

A week or so ago I got this brilliant Martha Stewart idea. Why not collect some fallen leaves and tape them over the door frames around the house? Bring a little bit of the fall inside. Dani wondered what in the world I was doing, "They'll just dry out," she said.

Of course, she was right. In a day or two my brilliant yellow, orange, and red leaves were all brown and shriveled (but they are still up there - and likely will be until the day we die). But then I had better idea. Why not scan the leaves into my computer and print them out? Then they would be more or less permanent.

So yesterday morning, after I had walked Pep over to school, I poured myself a glass of Coke (lots of ice), put on a Windham Hill CD, and sat down here at the computer with the handful of leaves I had carefully selected on my walk home.

I chose a brilliant yellow maple leaf and laid it on my scanner glass. In a moment, that leaf was transported to my computer screen. A moment or two later, its exact clone was emerging from my unassuming little desktop printer.

I smiled in wonder.

First, at the beauty of a simple golden leaf - and then that I could DO that! To think, some putz in his basement can take a leaf, stick it in one beige gizmo, and in just a matter of minutes have a nearly identical copy of it come out another.

Imagine what Gutenberg would have thought.

In Medieval times I would be Merlin!

...and I would be running for my life from a frightened hord of torch-bearing rustics!

And as I considered all of that, this incredible feeling of wonder and contentment washed over me. All in all, I suppose it doesn't sound like that big a deal. I hadn't just won the Super Bowl, the Publisher's Clearing House prize patrol wasn't just at the door. But I was thrilled. Well, quietly thrilled, anyway. The events of the morning had all come together to drive out all thoughts of over-due credit card bills, cracked plaster, rising crime rates, and the vague fear that the kids are going amuck and it's all my fault.

For a simple moment, all seemed marvelous and right in the world.

And then slowly I became aware of the fact that what I was really experiencing was the goodness and wonder of God.

But even more than that. I saw that these elusive moments of almost overwhelming peace and contentment are just the barest taste of what awaits us for all of eternity. In heaven EVERY moment will be that way.


What a wonderful thought!