There is something about autumn in this Pennsylvania countryside that turns my mind to ghost stories.
When the fog curls around the trunk of the weeping willow, I half expect to see the headless horseman ride by.
When I pass the field where the Hessian soldiers camped before they joined the redcoats, I think I almost see their faded muskets between the trees.
There aren’t many places left in our world where the past feels so near. So everpresent.
Truthfully, I’m not sure I believe in death when I cross vast parking lots or stand beneath fluorescent lights. But I am learning. This place of somber black horse-drawn buggies, covered bridges, and old stone farmhouses is working a change in me.
I am learning that fluorescent light and concrete don’t tell the truth. I am learning that some realities can only be glimpsed in the low, golden light of Autumn.
I’m sharing a story about a covered bridge and a cloud of witnesses. I hope you’ll click through to read it at Living the Story (via BibleDude.net).
My brother died this time of year from cancer, in 1995. I was 15. He’s been gone just longer than he was actually here. A part of the cloud of witnesses! I remember the twinkly Christmas lights in his room as he was dying, and it actually gives me great comfort when I hang up the Christmas lights each year. Matt is in eternal light. Part of me is there already too.
Hannah, when I was 15 I lost one of the most important people in my world, my aunt. I can’t believe more years have passed without her than we had together. This image of the twinkling lights is so beautiful. I can almost see your brother and my aunt there in the light. Thank you.
I forgot to look back and see what you wrote here until today. I’m so glad you shared this uncanny similarity! Today, I’m irritated with my Christmas tree. I keep piling on the lights and the tree just isn’t bright enough. It seems to shine most brightly when the house is dark, but I want to pile light on top of light. I want to see their brilliance in the midday as well.
I know I place where this is possible…..