This fall as I watched the leaves fade. Green to brown then the falling down. Something inside me ached. Something inside felt sadness. Felt the bitterness of the change and falling away. 

Trees being stripped, naked. Vibrant greens all summer long turn into the plain, bare brown. 

This time of year causes me to stop, to look up. To question the changing of seasons. I am a summer girl. I am home in the greens and sun’s warmth. I feel most comfortable, most alive in the summer. However, the seasons must change. The earth rotates; God’s design. 

The changing is needed. The changing is part of life, part of the growing. Without the brown bare, naked trees would the greens be as beautiful? Without the painful seasons would our witness be effective? Without the stripping away would God be needed in our lives?

The leaves fall, our babies grow, our roles develop. Whether we are in a season of vibrant greens or naked browns we are never far from the grace of God. Never far from His unending love.

Leaves fall, the scene changes but our God does not. This old, favorite hymn comes to mind: 

“Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide,
in every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”

 

Romans 8:35-39 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. NLT