LEAF LESSONS
I'm not quite sure what happened, but all of a sudden fall has descended on us. I first noticed it last Tuesday as I drove to Saint John for a meeting. It was as if the trees started to change overnight. Now I'm a happy camper 'cause fall has fallen.
Some people are summer people; some people love spring. I guess there may be one or two Nordic types who like the winter best of all. But for me, the fall wins the seasonal game, leaves down! Why do I love fall best of all? Bugs die in the fall. The sky seems bluer in the fall. The air is clearer in the fall. The earth smells richer in the fall. The clouds are more expressive in the fall. Most of all the trees do their enhanced color dance in the fall.
Here's a question for you: do you know why the leaves change color in the fall? If you think that it's because of the frost, you'd be wrong. Temperature is a factor, but it's not the main cause of the color canopy. The main cause of the leaves changing color is light, or lack thereof. It seems that as the days grow shorter (grow shorter, is that like military intelligence?), the trees stop producing chlorophyll. Chlorophyll, you will remember, is the green stuff in leaves that produces food for the tree using sunlight.
Here's another fall fact. The yellow that we see coming to the forefront, was always there. In other words, the leaves don't change color; it's just that the green goes away; leaving the ever-present yellow. Interesting, eh?
Let me give you one more leaf fact and then "leave" the rest of the leaf mystery for you to investigate on your own. Do you know why the leaves fall off the tree and become kitty litter for the frolicking forest folk? They fall off because the veins in the leaf become so constricted by the cold, that they no longer have any sap flowing between the leaf and the branch. Things completely clog up and the leaf dies and falls off.
OK, so what do I want you to learn from these leaf lessons? Do I want you to marvel at the majestic beauty of God's creation? Sure, go ahead, but I'm not happy to "leaf" you there. Sorry, but it just doesn't satisfy my warped perspective.
What I want you to do next, is to think of these multicolored treasures as our sins. Yep, I want you to think about all of those brilliant yellows and bright reds as ugly, rancid, rebellious sin. Take a drive out in the country, if you want to, and cringe at the multitude of sin that abounds. Don't I have a wonderful way of making the beauty of fall "special"? Well, before you write me off completely, let me explain.
Remember that I said that the yellow in the leaves was really always there, but it's just that in the summer, the green of the chlorophyll covers that yellow. Well, it's the same with Christ. Jesus is our chlorophyll. The life-giving green of his righteousness covers our sins. There, are you feeling a bit better now? As long as Christ is present in our lives, the green completely covers our yellow ickies and we have a productive, life-giving existence.
But there is more. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”Ah, do you also remember that I mentioned that it was the diminishing light that triggered the end of the tree's chlorophyll production? Jesus is our light. When we walk in His light; when we reflect His light, we are all green and crisp-with supple hearts. But, when we ignore our relationship with Him and we cut ourselves off from the long days of summer, our sins start to come to the surface. Soon, it's obvious to us and everyone else that the spiritual life is draining from us and our sins begin to show through as we dry up.
Remember also that the leaves fall off the tree because all communication between the branch and the leaf is clogged up and cut off. When that happens, the leaf dies and falls. Well, Jesus tells us the same thing will happen in our spiritual lives, if we don't remain in Him. In John 15:5, He declared, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Let me paraphrase Jesus' words by saying, "Don't be a sap by cutting off the sap! If you cut off the sap, you'll end up falling for a long winter nap!"
There is one last thought I want to leave with you, and hopefully this thought will redeem my fall discourse. Isn't it interesting that leaves show their greatest beauty in death? They have spent the spring and summer of their lives growing and producing lots of fruit, but now is the time for them to die. And die they do, in a blaze of awe-inspiring eye candy. Can death for anyone who has spent the spring and summer of their faith abiding in Christ and producing His fruit be any different? Nope, there is nothing more beautiful then a life spent abiding in Christ. Such a life always goes out in a blaze of glory!
If you have any thoughts or comments, please click on my name at the bottom of this page and I promise to write back.
