I was driving along a local Cape Cod road recently on a crisp, fall day… when I saw a gorgeous pumpkin patch on the front lawn of a church nearby. I stopped my car and got out to admire the spectacular sight.

The colors were brilliant… orange, white, green… they were all different sizes and shapes…big ones… small ones… tall ones… stocky ones. Some pumpkins had dings on them… some had broken stems… but that didn’t matter. The important thing was that they all worked together to make a glorious picture.

As I stood there soaking up my surroundings, I thought about our country… and how diverse it is…just like the pumpkin patch. We are a nation of many different races, religions, creeds, shapes, sizes…all living together.

When pumpkins are carved and candles placed inside, each one has a beautiful warm light that embraces us in its glow.

We also have a light within us, just like the pumpkins. When God carved each one of us, He gave us all a light to shine.

In Luke 8:16, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in Heaven.”

How do we bring light to a world in so much darkness? One person at a time.

As Kathy Triccoli so beautifully sings, “Carry your candle…Seek out the hopeless…the tired…the worn…Hold out your candle…for all to see it…Take you candle, and go light your world.”

This Halloween when we light our pumpkins, may we be reminded to let the Light of Jesus within us shine before men.

Last month, on a very cloudy and overcast day, I drove to my favorite beach, where the music of the crashing waves always makes my heart smile.

As I sat in my trusty, old beach chair, I marveled at how beautiful God’s majesty was, even through the blur of haze and fog.

As I looked out over the murky seascape, I noticed something forming in the sky… another cloud? What was it? I blinked my eyes and kept them focused overhead. A large, white, cloudy form continued to grow, until it stretched from one end of the ocean to the other.

I kept blinking in disbelief. Was it a rainbow? A white rainbow? I’ve never heard of such a thing, let alone seen one. But here it was, right in front of me.

I pulled my iPhone out and snapped a picture, grateful I did, because it was gone in ten minutes.

I left the beach, shaking my head in wonderment at this unexpected surprise.

When I arrived home, I emailed a Boston television meteorologist, who told me I had indeed seen a white rainbow, or a fogbow, only seen when conditions are perfect.

My world has been far from perfect lately. It hasn’t felt bright or colorful at all. But that doesn’t mean I can’t see rainbows. I learned that today.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge said rainbows are made up of “tears and light”. I’m sure my tears were in that white rainbow today.

Maya Angelou wrote, “God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us- in the darkest and most dreaded moments- can see the possibility of hope.”

May we all keep looking up. God may have a wonderful surprise in store for us today!

As I was sitting today on a picturesque old dock, that stretches out into Maryland’s beautiful Chesapeake Bay, something in the water caught my eye. It was a maple leaf that had fallen from a tree and was floating gently with the tide.

As I watched the leaf move slowly with the current, I was reminded again of this new season of Fall that has just arrived… a time of change… a time of reflection… a time of new beginnings.

When a leaf falls, buds appear, sprouting new life.  The new leaves will make food and nourish the tree, so it can continue to grow and prosper.

The same thing happens to me. When life is difficult, as it so often is,   I fall, too … many times.

I want to learn from this little maple leaf that when I fall, Jesus is always there to pick me up… to encourage me… to lift me… to keep me afloat.

When I stumble, may I always realize that falling is an opportunity for new growth for me as well… growth that will nourish me and make me stronger, just like the maple tree.

I thank God for the gift of this little leaf today. May I hold tightly to its message of change… of rebirth…of hope.