“Where you lead, I will follow”

Hey y’all,

Fall is upon us! Fall is my favorite season of the year. The season brings familiar routines and rhythms that Keith and I look forward to each year.

We love the dropping temperatures and the beautiful color of the changing leaves, making outdoor activities like hiking and flyfishing perfect. We delight in the scents of fall—the campfire and pumpkin spice candles, the smell of cinnamon rolls in the oven, and the crispness of the air as the wind blows. Fall also means college football. We enjoy slow Saturday mornings watching College GameDay. If we are not spending the day outdoors, we tune in for big matchups and the not-so-big matchups of our alma maters. Although basketball is often thought of as a winter sport, Fall also brings the start of college basketball which fills the gaping hole the end of the WNBA season brings.

This year our Fall rhythms and routines both look similar to years before and look quite a bit different as we prepare for the birth of our daughter early next year. Now our Fall is also filled with looking at paint colors for the nursery, giving away furniture to make room for the baby’s things, and reading books on pregnancy and parenting.

One of the reasons I love Fall so much is that I find it cozy and comforting. Fall to me has a familiarity that other seasons don’t have. It feels like putting on my favorite sweatshirt and getting comfortable. This Fall still has that, but it also is filled with the anticipation and preparation I tend to associate with the season of Advent.

While our Fall looks a little different and some of our routines and rhythms are changing (like shorter hikes and less flyfishing adventures), one routine that certainly will not change is my rewatch of the early-2000s television show, Gilmore Girls. The show follows single mom, Lorelai Gilmore, and her daughter, Rory in their small, fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. Gilmore Girls, much like Fall, feels like putting on my favorite sweatshirt and getting comfortable.

The show’s theme song is “Where You Lead” by Carole King. The song captures the feeling of my familiar Fall rhythms and routines, and the chorus captures the anticipation I feel this particular Fall:

Where you lead, I will follow
Anywhere that you tell me to
If you need, you need me to be with you
I will follow where you lead

I don’t fully know where this season is leading, both in the sense of preparing for parenthood and in the sense that our world is a mess. Each day seems to bring more and more bad news, violence, or just plain absurdity out of our current administration. It’s overwhelming, disorienting, and infuriating especially as we prepare to bring a child into this world. But, at the same time, there are still the things we love and count on to bring us joy and comfort. There is still beauty as the leaves change and the cool wind blows. There is awe and wonder as our daughter continues to grow.

One of the prayers we have for our daughter is that she experiences the joy and the beauty all around her, and that she doesn’t look past the pain of the world. We pray that she always follows the lead of the one who has crafted her, the one who has fearfully and wonderfully made her in their own unique image. We pray that she chooses Jesus’ way of peace, justice, and love even when it’s difficult.

This Fall, I pray that you can find the feeling of putting on your favorite sweatshirt, breathing deep as the crisp breeze hits your face, the warmth of a campfire, the joy of your favorite team winning a big game, and the beauty of the changing leaves. I pray that in the midst of the unknown and overwhelming in our world right now, that you can find and follow the lead of the God who has also fearfully and wonderfully made you in their own unique image.

Peace,

Rev. Leigh