“One day many years ago during the autumn season, I was driving in my car to go somewhere. As I rounded a bend in the road, I gasped with surprise as I came face to face with a most incredible sight on the side of the road. There before me was a huge tree exploding with the intense colors of fall – from flaming red to the brightness of the sun’s yellow. The colors were brilliant! Even though I was driving, I spontaneously took my hands off of the wheel and began to clap in celebration. I wouldn’t advise you do this, but it happened almost before I could think. And what was my first thought? How even in dying, there can be beauty and promise when our creator is involved. The leaves would soon turn dull and fall to the ground, and yet for a moment in time, the beauty was breathtaking. And yet, I was a bit sad, too, because I knew the bleakness of winter was coming. But wait! Though the leaves of that season were dying, the tree was still very much alive! The tree, for a season, would remain still as it waited for spring to come with new leaves and new vigor.
Your time is not over. You have yet to see the fullness of what’s around the bend of the road for you. Transition is not easy because that which we know is shifting, trying to shake loose from its familiarity to make room for something new, something new and fresh! We can’t always see that new thing as quickly as we would like to. Therefore, our time of transition can often be wrought with confusion, pain, and fear because we don’t know what lies up ahead. Let’s get a grip! Don’t let that happen! This is the time to trust the Lord, seeking Him for new direction and wisdom, waiting in peace, as your next season of fruitfulness is unveiled. And there will be a next season. In Genesis, Chapter 8 verse 22, God speaks to Noah after the earth has been flooded and destroyed and gives this promise, As long as the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.
Celebrate God’s promise of continued life and beauty even in the midst of transition. Let all the colors of your leaves show knowing that it will speak of God’s hope to others. And when the change comes, you will be ready for it. Be brilliantly arrayed in the goodness of God. And remember, when the leaves fall, spring is just around the bend. You’ll be green again!
Oh! Clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout unto God with the voice of triumph! Psalm 47:1″
