Photo by Courtney Read on Unsplash
Dying things are most beautiful …
The fall season is a wonderful time of year. The air is crisp and refreshing. We can finally turn off the air conditioners and allow the cool breezes to flow throughout the house. My favorite part of this season is the beautiful vibrant colors of the leaves.
During a recent road trip, I was engulfed with the beautiful landscape of deep reds, yellow, and orange on trees of many different shapes and sizes.
While enjoying the scenery, a strange thought invaded my mind. The leaves on the trees are most beautiful as they are dying. I shared my thought with my husband and he said, “it’s the same way with people – people who have relationship with Christ”.
I immediately thought of what Paul the Apostle said, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Nature seems to flow with this easily. The leaves seem to know that it’s ok to die to make room for a new season. We as humans struggle to stay alive.
Maybe we fear the winter season that quickly emerges after the leaves die. It’s often cold and lonely. It may even feel like the winter season of our lives will never end. But just as sure as the earth turns on its axis, the seasons will always change. Spring time always emerges at just the right time, bringing with it a beauty unique to its time.
Jesus said that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and die, it cannot bear fruit. If a seed remains in tact, it is just one seed (John 12:24).
There are times when we become so self protective of the seed we call ourselves and determined to preserve what we have come to know as our lives, that we have difficulty imagining that there could be something greater for us on the other side of death.
Many of us are ok with physical death and have the faith to believe that we will spend eternity with Jesus in heaven. However there is a great resistance to the death of our will and personal preferences for a life yielded to the Spirit of God.
Jesus said, “He who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Luke17:33). He came to give us life more abundant (John 10:10)… exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ever ask or imagine.
In light of these truths, it seems that we too can be beautiful in the dying process. Instead of stress and grief, peace and joy can make our countenances radiant. We can rest and embrace the colors that emerge from our lives.
The prayer of my heart is that when people are traveling on the road of life and pass by me, that they too would be overwhelmed by the beauty of God’s spirit radiant in me.
