The first day of Fall. I've already been appreciating the beauty. Time passes. Things change. The trees have become more colorful. But it's in their dying that they do so. In sadness, I look at them, catching my breath, yet knowing it is all temporary. Soon a cold snap will come, and their treasures will fall. Or a big wind will come and sweep them away. Their bare branches will be exposed for what they are - a beauty all their own. Their structure will be the only indicator of who they are - who they were created to be.
It'll be like a refining fire of sorts. The outward chaf of fleeting beauty in exchange for the inner gold - that which is worth saving. That which has been given to God to be sanctified. Master Creator, let me embrace Your process. Help me let go of what we don't need. You don't want to see fake fruit. No poison berries. You don't need me to grow extra branches that will just become weak and plummet to the ground in a storm. Let me grow just what you've placed in my identity. Strong limbs that You've written into my DNA. The birds will find them and shelter there. Places to tend their young ones. The wind will blow, and the rain will fall, and the turning leaves will too, but the branches You grew, will stand tall and true.
So grow my extensions strong and supportive, creating places of protection. Places Your curious ones can land and find life according to Your plan. Holy cruxes to become cathedrals, full of grace. Launching pads for Your flight plans inside them.The process of exposure. When Your plan for me is most evident. Let me not fear Your pruning. After all the sprouting and blooming and seeding. After all the praising and clapping and singing. After all the bending of trials and scorching of sun, the strength and glory revealed is Your own - that already formed before my days even began. Those that were written before there was one. The presence of power in my branches revealed, all throughout the longest season. The season I've only endured before, now I'll look on with intent. My focus will be undeniable, on the only thing remaining - it's You.
So the glory of So the glory of Fall is fleeting. The the bleakness of winter is inevitable. Do we go through it only to get to Spring? Are we missing something? In this the longest season of all, does God create longing inside of us for Him?
If this is true, then I will seek Him there too.