What doesn't fade.

I've spent the last few weekends trying to gather up these leaves from around the yard. It's hard to imagine that just a few months ago they were hanging on the tree in all shades of colors.  And before that they were green and processing sunlight to provide nutrients for the tree. What was once full of beauty is just gathered up and thrown into the trash, trampled under foot and forgotten about.   

It happens in a matter of months. It's alarming at the fleeting nature of life. Even when we have 60, 70, or 80 years of life, it all feels like a blur. Things that once had great value to us just wither and fade away.  And, like the leaves on the tree, it just keeps happening. There is nothing we can do to slow down the passage of time. The leaves are just a reminder of that.  

It would be easy to become cynical, but I think the Bible teaches us another way. When we realize that so much of life is fleeting, then we must hold even tighter to the things that last.  Like the word of God which does not wither like the grass, and the love of Christ to which goes beyond death itself.   

We all know that someday our bodies will grow old and tired like these leaves.  We too are buried in the ground, but we know that's not the real us. Our soul is then in the presence of God, for to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. When we are there time will pass, but it won't matter to us. When we have been there for 10,000 years, we will indeed have no less days to sing his praise. Our bodies might grow old and fade, but his love for us and our praise for him will never die.