As I sat playing in the fall weather of WNY with the kids, I realized that its so much more than cooler temps and brighter colors. Fall has so much of an indication of promise, an accepting of change and a new and bright beginning.
As the kids played in the leaves I couldn't helpe but notice how God's beauty shines. Here are my 5 young children, so new still to the world and unaware of the evils that lie ahead and in stark contrast here are the leaves, brightly hued and slowly becoming little more than dust.
Most people get mildly annoyed with the leaves, they bag them up and throw them away, or burn them in large piles. Yet little more than 6 months ago they where providing shade on a warm day or bringing that much needed green after a long winter. If you think about it don't we as people do the same to those people and things we no longer find a use for.
The brillance of the tree crossed my mind and I couldn't help but see that when the winter comes the tree sheds all that is not needed in order to survive. The tree doesn't hang on to the leaves for a just in case, it just lets go and prepares for the long haul. Yet in the spring, when the sun returns and the weather warms new buds always show up and the new leaves begin to form.
There is a lot of hope in that bare tree. No matter how many leaves it loses during the fall it always sprouts anew in the spring. Aren't we the same, no matter how many leaves we lose don't we always have a chance to start anew if we decide to. Those leaves are the people and things that come into our lives and enrich them, they don't stay forever and that's ok. The branches of our tree are the people and things that we really need. They are the family and friends that stay by us. Interestingly enough like us when the leaves go away you can hardly tell but when you lose a branch there is a scar forever.
Maybe if we looked at ourselves more as trees we'd see the brillance in change. We'd realize that life changes all the time and like the leaves we'd accept that nothing is forever but that nothing is gone forever
