Written by Sara Wall
I stepped out on the deck and inhaled the crispness of the autumn morning. The trees were a thrilling sight to behold; so majestic, crowning the forest, and bordering the field behind the house in an array of sepia, amber and russets. The sky above me was a splendid blue against the vastness of the white, puffy clouds. The sky always seemed more vivid, so blue in autumn. Perhaps it wanted to have one more chance to display its brightness before the grey skies in November would come to replace its glory.
I sighed and allowed the fall breeze to gently soothe my troublesome thoughts. Oh, how I loved this beauty now! But I knew I couldn’t keep it; there was no possible way to encapsulate it. The change was inevitable, and although I knew it was needed, it still marred the beauty of autumn for me. The barrenness after the leaves drifted from the trees always left me feeling empty.
Do you sometimes feel afraid and unsettled when the leaves transition from summer to autumn? Does it make you cringe at the thought of the cold, the bleakness of the winter approaching; leaving you huddled in a blanket, inside? And so it is with life’s changes. They often come upon us before we feel ready for them. Our faith gets shaken to its core, like the leaves in autumn, and we lie, huddled, resisting the pain we must face.
Autumn brings with it beauty when the leaves change its hues from green to yellow, orange, red, and gold, but after the leaves drift from the trees, it looks drab and barren. We, too, may feel drab and barren in life’s autumn of change.
But we don’t need to stay barren in life’s changes. We can move forward and allow God to blanket us with newness, like the snow that comes after a bare season. Not only that, we can experience joy amid changes, and the trials it brings; the leaves in the autumn teach us this. They are not challenged or ashamed with their change, nor do they cringe or put up a fuss. The leaves aren’t afraid and unsettled at the winter that is coming. They surrender the splendour of their beauty, knowing that, in a short time, they will be trampled on the ground, blown away with the wind, raked up, and forgotten. The leaves know they need this change to make way for the next season; another season of beauty and then a time of barrenness; and the cycle repeats.
It may be a stillborn, a rebellious child, the passing of a loved one, a difficult relationship, a crushing disappointment that life didn’t turn out the way we had hoped… These are the changes that can leave us grasping, desperately trying to hold on to the “normal” we were used to, but it’s not to be. If the leaves refused to let go, and still clung to its branches, we wouldn’t receive the resplendence of winter. The leaves must give way, and allow the barrenness before the magnificence. It’s the same with us; we need to let go of our own way, and allow the Lord to have His way in our lives. We may not understand our trials, but we can rest in the confidence that the Lord is doing something beautiful, and if we are willing to yield, we will glorify His name. Just as the shedding of the autumn leaves makes way for winter’s beauty, and at first it may appear bleak and hopeless; but alas, finally comes the brilliant vastness of the purity of the snow.
This is what the Lord wants to do with us. He wants to “shed” our natural carnal man, and purify us to make us more like His glorious image. Are we going to resist the sanctifying work of the Lord, that we may be more like Him? If we thank God for the changes that come our way, it makes the winter of our lives more pleasant. It’s the shedding of the old, to make way for the new. Rest awhile, if we need to, but no matter what, let us remain steadfast in the autumn of our life, and we will reap the beauty of winter’s snow. Embrace the change, allow God to sanctify us in our trials, and drink in this promise from the Word of God:
“Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:18,19.
We may be in the wilderness (when the leaves have shed from the trees), but the Lord will cause the changes to be for our good. He will make a way in the wilderness, and water our faith in the rivers of His great love and care! Allow the beauty, shedding, and change of autumn envelope and invigorate us to reach forward in faith, and watch God make our wilderness into a rippling river of peace.