God's Faithfulness
It seems like it’s taken me longer this year to notice the changing trees around us. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been too busy or maybe the trees are later changing, but this week they all caught my eye. More than than just their beauty though, they taught me about God’s plan for us.
All of the leaves change, but not at the same rate. It might be easy for one tree to look at another and be envious of it, just as it’s easy for us to compare our lives to others. God‘s plan for you might be different than God‘s plan for someone else, just as the trees change at different rates. But still God is in control.
The trees this time of year are also a reminder of God‘s faithfulness. Even as old things pass away, we can be sure that new things will come. Darkness and the cold of winter is coming, but we can be sure that the warm new life of spring is coming as well. In our own lives we can know that “sorrow may last for the night but joy comes in the morning. “
The leaves are also a reminder to us that God loves beauty. There’s absolutely no reason that the leaves need to change to red and yellow and orange and all of these beautiful colors. This is simply God’s design, his handiwork for us to marvel at. This is beauty for the sake of beauty. It will fade away, the leaves lose their color and don’t stay that way forever, they fall to the ground and become trampled and return to the earth. But for that moment, their beauty is a reminder to us of God‘s beautiful creation all around us.
The world we live in constantly speaks of the beauty of God, the plan of God, the power of God. By looking closely at the world of nature around us, we can be reminded that even our lives are changing, even though old things pass away, we can cling to the promise of new life that is coming soon. One of the best ways to celebrate that promise is in your local church. Make plans to be there with them today, and on the way there stop and look at a few trees. Let them remind you of God’s plan for your life.