Of Leaves and Beauty

I love this season of year. I love it when the trees turn vibrant shades of yellow, orange and red. I love it when I look out my window and all day long I can see delicate yellow leaves drifting and fluttering to the ground. I especially like it in years like this when the leaves don't come down in one blustery Fall rain storm, but over a few days of Fall sunshine and gentle breezes. The sun filters through the trees as the leaves willingly give up their hold on the branch and dance the uncharted twirl, dip, flutter and float to the ground. And on the ground, oh, it's so beautiful. For just a few days each year there is this crunchy, delicious coat of color in my front yard. Every time I step out I hear the satisfying crunch of beauty underfoot.

I know, I know, Fall also ushers in Winter. In Oregon that means cold, wet and gray for the next 4-7 months. By Spring I will be eagerly awaiting longer days and warmer sunshine. I also know that leaves make messes, and by next week, when it's been raining for 4 days straight and I still need to go out and rake up the brown, wet, soggy, slimy carpet on my front lawn, I may be singing a different tune. But for now, for today, it's glorious, and I love it!

And every year the Fall leaves remind me that my hold on life is only temporary. That there is a beauty in letting go. That when something ends in an appropriate time and season, even the descent can be a dance, a thing of beauty. When I go through seasons of life when it seems as if I am the leaf on the sidewalk, trod underfoot, it's good to remember that God sees and knows each leaf. He created each one. And each serves it's complete purpose. And perhaps, for a season, my purpose is to display the beauty God has given me by doing the dance of abandon. Abandon to control, understanding, appearances - and dancing to the unknown, the next season, the yet-to-come.

Ethereal thoughts. Not completely solidified thoughts. Kind of like the leaves floating in front of my living room window - my thoughts are fleeting and quickly passing. They leave a simple sense of goodness and beauty, without a clear definition of how one gets there. A sense of hope for an unknown future. A reason to live today with beauty and intention.