Leaves, glorious leaves

The leaves are changing color. It is a glorious sight to behold. Truly amazing. God did not have to give us this majestic display of His power, but He does. He could’ve created trees with all the same colored leaves. They could be brown all year. They could just dry up, remaining the same color that they are, and fall off of the tree.

Instead, God created us with eyes that love beauty…that look for it, that crave it. And He generously fulfills those desires with His creation. He made trees with green leaves that turn beautiful shades of color before the coming of winter. As we await and perhaps dread the coming of the cold, what a gentle way to take our hand and prepare us for this upcoming season. He reminds us that although the winter will come, He is still with us. He is always with us. No matter what is coming, He is there to hold our hand and guide us through. If we are looking ahead to a situation or upcoming event with some fear or uncertainty, we can be reassured that we are never alone. He gives us a fabulous gift of leaves turning all shades of yellow, orange, red and purple. Thank you, God, for the changing of the leaves.

Lord, God, Your love for us is so evident as we see all of the beauty that you have created for us. You didn’t have to give us these things, but You chose to. Help us, Lord, to be reminded of You and of the gentle and kind way that you love us, as we see the glorious display of your splendor.

Pen to page

My twelve year old is taking a portrait art class. His current task is to look in the mirror and draw himself. He sketches the outline of the face. He adds lines to help him find where the eyes should be placed. He calculates where the mouth should be aligned. He carefully shades the outline of a nose, placing the nostrils where he thinks they should go. He erases some, adjusts the lines, looks in the mirror, and adjusts again. He sketches, he erases, he draws, he erases, he adjusts, and sketches some more.

In the end he anticipates that the final product will be something worthwhile, maybe even something beautiful. He cannot, however, see the end result. This process involves many drafts. If he were to count the number of times he changes his work and count each one as a new draft, there would be hundreds. Perhaps he would like to make a beautiful, perfect work of art right from the start. Perhaps he would like to avoid all of the adjustments and corrections necessary to get to the final masterpiece.

As a parent, I can see and realize that this working and re-working is teaching him so much. His skills are being honed and more greatly defined. He learns patience, he learns endurance, he learns new techniques that he could not have learned otherwise.

I hear God leading me in a certain direction. My spirit says, “Yes. Lord.” I think about which way to begin. I hesitate to take a step in a certain direction for lack of certainty if it is a step in the right direction. How will I know for sure? What if I make a mistake? I want to move when I’m ensured that the end result will in fact be a masterpiece. I don’t want to write, erase, correct, adjust. I don’t want to have dozens, maybe even hundreds of drafts. I want things to be perfect the first time through. Perhaps this has kept me from moving in the past. I could stay in this place of uncertainty, allowing my questions and doubts to hold me captive. I could have a lifetime of inactivity, waiting for the perfect circumstances, the perfect timing, the right break. Will it be good enough? Will it make a difference? How will I ever really know for sure?

How many of us want to be able to see the end result before we take a step? Don’t we want to know that our efforts will make something beautiful? We all have a longing inside of us for beauty. We were created with this desire. Today I’m choosing to step out in faith, to relinquish my control on the outcomes. After all, I want God Almighty to be the Director of my life. Do I not believe that He has a much better plan that I could ever come up with on my own? I know that He does. My head knows it. Today my actions will follow as I surrender my every day, my every action, my every effort unto His hand. It is OK to make a draft. It is a beautiful thing in itself just to make the first sketch. Time to put pen to page….