"Gratitude opens our eyes to God's resources." Daniel Zindel.
Fall is such a beautiful and colorful season! I like it. There's a lot going on, and Advent is already lurking around the corner, but I'm looking forward to it. I already have a few Christmas presents (I make a list early on and collect good ideas or small gifts that cross my path and are useful, e.g. a new card game from the second hand st0re).
This year, fall also means letting go. My father-in-law died last weekend. We knew that he would not live much longer because he was very ill, and yet it is so final. Seemingly. How good to know that he is living with God now!
The leaves on the trees are always full of colors. But the green overlaps all other colors in the time when photosynthesis is done. In fall, the tree withdraws the chemical components of chlorophyll into the trunk and roots, where it is stored for next spring. What remains is the yellow, orange and red, depending on the tree species. The leaves only turn brown when they die.
Trees let go of what they don´t need for the winter.
If we were a tree, Matthias Dad would have stored all life in his soul and shed his leaves in the end. To then bloom again in heaven.
I like it that all the buds on the trees are already there on the twigs for spring. As a child I always thought that they only arise in spring, just before they bloom. But no! They are already there, like a promise! There will be a new spring! Even if all the trees look like dead in winter. We know that they will be green and alive again. That is comforting.
A tree is so much more than what we see. The root system is much larger than the treetop! And every human being is so much more than what we see as well. Even I am full of mysteries I don´t even know about myself . There are so many secrets and there is so much potential in us! God has planted seeds in our hearts that we don't even know about yet! Some things will still unfold in our life on Earth. Other things only in our next life. There will definitely be surprises! Who knows what´s possible?
I am grateful for the fall. For the colorful leaves.
Grateful for my father-in-law. And for being able to let go.
We are in His hands. He knows the future and His plans for us are good.
If you grasp and cling to life on your terms,
you´ll lose it.
But if you let this life go,
you´ll get life on God's terms.
Luke 17:33
Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God´s people,
and Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil.
Psalm 97:11