Fall Musings

I love Fall! I have always delighted in the brilliant colors that paint our South-Central Pennsylvania hills and woodlands this time of year. The warm hues of burnt orange and rust interspersed with the bright, cheery splashes of golden yellows, set off with a fiery pop of crimson here and there, form a painting perfect palette of color washing across the horizon on my drive to work or home, making me smile at their splendor.

But the truth is, those wonderful, colorful leaves are visible for a few short weeks in this autumn season only because they are actively dying. Winter cold is coming, and the tree knows it cannot sustain both leaves and life, so the chlorophyll that makes leaves green is instead stored away to await the warmth of Spring and in its absence the beautiful colors of other pigments become visible until the leaf does what deciduous leaves do in the fall… let go and fall off!

I think there is a spiritual lesson in the fall foliage for us— letting go can be beautiful. And I have been pondering what God might be nudging me to let go of in this season of my life. It could be as simple as clothing I no longer wear or stuff we bought thinking it would make life easier, but that is now just taking up space. Who can we pass it on to that will be able to use it, offering them a blessing and freeing us from the clutter?

What about you? What might it be good to let go of this season? For some of us it might be that thing we do because no one else will, but that no longer brings us joy and honestly drains us. What new, lifegiving ministry could be birthed in the next season if we let go of that, and instead we stored that time up to dream new dreams with God?

For others, it may be a behavior or belief that we adopted in a difficult time of trauma as a coping mechanism to help us survive, but that we realize is now crippling us and preventing us from thriving. Maybe it is a grudge or resentment over a wrong done to us, but we can now see holding on to it is tying us to that pain and stunting our growth, like a tree trying to keep leaves green in winter without the summer sun. Could letting go finally free us to heal from the hurt and allow us to move forward to our next season?

The kaleidoscope of autumn leaves offers us a beautiful picture of hope in their season of letting go. The same Creator God who crafted this glorious, gratuitous splash of color and unnecessary unveiling of hidden beauty in the leaf through the cycle of seasons, also created you and I and promises to walk with us through the changing seasons of our lives, including seasons of letting go, celebrating their beauty in and with and through us. Thanks be to God! – Vicar DeAnn