Reflections: Dancing leaves

The beauty of colourful leaves. The smell of pumpkin pie. Low hanging sunshine bringing a perpetual late-afternoon warmth. This is a photographer’s paradise. It is easy to see why this is the favourite time of year for many people.

Autumn is also a giant object lesson for a central belief of the Christian faith. We witness the slow preparation for winter. Trees shed their leaves and needles. Flowers give up their blooms and wither their stalks. It is a purposeful move to what can appear like death. 

A key tenet of the Christian faith is the promise of resurrection; when death is transformed to new life. Autumn is an annual reminder of this. 

While it may look as though things are dying, they are in fact, preparing for the resurrection. Nature provides us with a calm, confident embrace of a demise that is informed by the promise of a resurrection. Leaves gently dance their way to the ground beneath. Blooms silently droop and wither. There is no wailing of resistance. There is no fighting or pushback. It is a gentle acceptance of expiration.

This is not to suggest a display of passive weakness. Rather it is an exhibition of confident assurance. The tree will bring forth new leaves. The bulb in the ground will sprout new blooms. 

As part of creation, we too experience seasons. Like nature around us, there are times when things feel like they are dying. Hopes crumble under the weight of undeniable reality. Unfulfilled dreams crash in apparent failure. Unmet intentions droop and eventually wither away.

These are often difficult seasons for us. Feelings of failure can feel humiliating. Lack of apparent success can feel embarrassing. As people of faith this can also lead to feelings of being abandoned by God. 

Yet it is resurrection that is the foundation of the faith. And death is a prerequisite for resurrection. Only that which has died can be resurrected. 

For people of faith the measure of accomplishment is not success but faithfulness in preparing for the resurrection. Efforts may be laced with positive impacts, but the true triumph is revealed in the resurrection. And that is something which only God can achieve. 

This autumn as you watch the leaves peacefully drift their way to the ground; and as you gently snip away the withered plants, allow yourself to be encouraged by the new life that is forthcoming. Like the leaves dancing with brilliant colour, make this a season of an embrace of what is yet to come.