Spring is Coming

A few weeks ago the trees were at their peak beauty of the fall season. As I drove around, admiring the glorious bursts of reds, oranges, and yellows covering the hillsides, it hit me that while we often enjoy fall for the beautiful colors, the reality is that the leaves are only changing colors because they are preparing to let go. The changing color of the leaves is actually a mark of loss. But I realized that the trees are God’s picture of how beautiful loss can be.

The tree doesn’t try to hold onto something past the season it was meant to have it. The tree lets it go when the right time comes. And when that time comes, the tree doesn’t let go with groaning, crying, and heavy mourning. It doesn’t slump over, die, and completely give up. The tree lets go with bright colors of rejoicing, as if trusting that spring is coming.

I think we all could learn a thing or two about loss from the trees. Sometimes God gives us people, places, and things for a long time or even a lifetime but other times just for a season. At the end of that season, it’s easy to want to go into a place of dark grief, mourning, and even anger over what we have lost. But what if we approached loss like trees? Like the trees, we can rejoice in all things, even loss, because have a greater hope in God. We can place our hope in promises like those found in Romans 8:28, that he will work all things together for our good, and know that his story is not over. We can trust God and know our own spiritual spring is coming and with it will come new and beautiful growth that will be better than the old withered “leaves” we were holding onto before.  Letting go is hard. But we can rejoice in the loss because we know that something new is on the way.

Lately, I’ve noticed most of the leaves have now fallen off the trees, leaving them bare. As I’ve looked around the rolling hills, I’ve noticed how much further I can see without the leaves on the trees. I can see buildings and homes that are typically hidden by foliage. I can see neighborhoods way across the valley. I have a clearer view of the city way off in the distance. Things that were once hidden are now visible. The temporary loss allowed a new perspective.

This is another lesson we can learn from the trees. I don’t like the loss I’ve experienced but there is so much I can see so much more clearly now because of it. The clearing away of the old has allowed me to have a new perspective to see things that I could not see before. And this new perspective is preparing me for the new thing that God is already starting in me.

So rejoice, even in the midst of loss. Take advantage of the new perspective God gives as a result of the loss. And endure the winter… spring is coming.