The Fallen Leaves

I wrote a prose not too long ago entitled, "Autumn is Captivating". Fall is another term for Autumn. I generally prefer to use the term Autumn over Fall; because Autumn is such a dignified season, yet Fall helps us to understand what is happening to the trees in ways that grant forbearance.

Fall explains it all. The trees go through drastic changes and the leaves fall. We go through the same changes in life, because of the fall. The leaves fall from the trees piece by piece. The stems and small branches drop to the ground. The leaves and all that is written in the life of the leaf has come to an end. These leaves are gone forever, yet for the time they existed they brought us pleasure and delight through the three seasons in which they thrived.

Just like those we love and lose whose lives bring us delight, and one day we must let go for various reasons, including death because it is inevitable. Yet death doesn't have a sting any longer and the grave has no victory. But while the life lasts we should be ever so appreciative and thankful for the days we are allowed to share with those we love. Not to see losing them, but what we did while they were alive, this is how we celebrate their lives.

As Christians we learn to see it differently and we do not sorrow as one that has no hope beyond the grave. Autumn teaches that lesson naturally as well. It teaches us to behold the glories of God through the beauty the foliage displays. We also learn to accept the fact that this is merely a temporal state that nature must endure. With hope we anticipate Spring and the new life it will bring and the process of newness that will prevail.

Everyday this is true. When we wake up in the morning, we should be thankful to see another day and that we have be invited by the Creator of life into a new day. He gently swings open the door to a new day and if you have breathe you have been invited into a new day.

I am reminded of when I was a little girl. We lived in a brownstone in Brooklyn, New York which my grandmother owned. The door to the house had a very heavy iron door, which took an adult to unlock. I could see outside but, I was not able to open the locked door by myself. I could see the sun shining brightly, and I would become ebullient with joy, and go find an elder to unlock the door so that I could go outside. I would jump up and down with glee proclaiming, the sun is shining, the sun is shining. This was the happiness I felt as a child for this door to be unlocked, allowing me entry to the outside. In retrospect and with depth today. It is the same delight to know that God opens a new door to life and invites me to walk into another day where the Son will be shining.

At night He closes the door to today, and we hope to see tomorrow, if the new door to life opens. The if only means that there is something which can prevent this from happening, but we ask that His will be done nevertheless, because we assess the fact that life here on earth is temporal, and to live is Christ, but to die is gain. Unlike Autumn's leaves which fall and are no more. This old mortality, will put on immortality. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

I picked up a fallen leaf (literally) and held it in my hands. There was so much beauty left in the leaf. I smiled, and said within myself, this leaf is beautiful, all the fallen leaves still have beauty. The leaf was representative of a fallen life, and how Jesus Christ picks us up and sees the potential and beauty in us. He doesn't look at the fallen status, but the beauty we can be. Unlike leaves, our fallen status leads to new life immediately upon receiving Jesus Christ as Savior. For the fallen leaf it has completed its mission, yet, next season there will bud new growth. This is why seasons are so important naturally and spiritually. We have something to look forward to. we call it hope.

Yes, we all know what it is like to fall just as the leaves, but praise God we know the power of resurrection from the dead through Christ Jesus. We are all His beautiful leaves that He picks up and gives new purpose. The leaves I mentioned in this prose. I brought home and placed them on my table. You may ask why? I just wanted to savor the beauty left. These leaves can now build new memories and every time I remember them, there will be special reminders, as is the case of those we lose. The fallen leaves are panoramic of those who die and we will never see them again as they once were, but new someday. Just like we won't see the same leaves which fall to the ground again and are no more, but come Springtime, there will be new growth. We will see those who die and are dead through resurrected sight of all things new. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Lord Jesus I bless Your holy name.

Share the love with all those who are still living, celebrate life every chance you get, so that you do not have any regrets. Just good memories which you can replay any time, because all it takes is for you to think about someone to stimulate the memory of them.

One of the stanzas of the prose goes like this:

Isn't our Creator great, the colors whispered? Ah, I replied, Yes indeed! and He is greatly to be praised, I reached to pick up a fallen leaf, When springs of thanks and praises were unleashed within me.

All thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for coming to seek and save the lost. I am so glad, He came to seek and save the lost, where would we be, if He didn't love us, and where would we be, if He didn't care. I am "Forever Grateful". Please if you have some time listen to the video and let this song minister to you. Grace and Peace.