One of the dictionary’s definitions of “fall” is “to lose the old, to have its proper place.” This is just one of the many parts of what the dictionary says “fall” is.
What is crazy is that the dictionary is talking about fall like “I fell down,” not fall like the season, and yet how appropriate the definition is!
I admit, I love fall. The color change, the weather change, the smell change – it’s about change. But to change means that something must go.
Each morning, I try to take my cup of coffee and sit on my south-facing deck. As I sit here looking at massive trees all around my yard, I see it happening right now. Leaves falling. What was once a tree deep in rich green, then a tree with vibrant shades of red and orange, now is becoming a tree that will soon be empty. Nothing left but the skeleton, the branches.
I guess our human side finds that sad and we wish the color stayed. We think the only thing that makes the tree beautiful is the colorful leaves. We wonder, why does it have to be so bare? But that’s a sign of what is to come.
ADVERTISEMENT
For every beginning there is an end, and for every ending there is a new beginning. What I find amazing is that those trees still stand. Those branches still reach out and upward. There is beauty in the strength of those branches.
In Isaiah 43:18-19, the Bible says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
This is a picture of what Jesus does in our lives. We go through all kinds of seasons. Some are seasons of hard times, seasons of loneliness, seasons of loss or financial hardships. And those seasons change us.
We have seasons that are bright and beautiful and rich in life. Then we have seasons when God allows things to enter our life so that we don’t remain the same. But through all those seasons, He is telling us: “Let go and let Me.
“Let go and let Me show you what I can do. Let go and let Me show you what I can teach you. There is strength in your branches with Me.”
We have to let go to discover what we can become in Him.
Pastor Tim Wilson serves at Park Rapids Assembly of God.
