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Falling

It's finally starting to feel like fall in Texas. We had a few beautiful days in September and October, but our real cold doesn't usually arrive until November. The leaves don't start changing color until then as well. Our neighborhood is full of beautiful trees. When you enter from our north entrance, all you see is tree lined streets. I long to see the fall colors as summer comes to a close and fall slides in. But, I have to wait.

We have a red oak out front. I can see it when I pass our front windows and from my son's room. This tree goes from empty and barren to vibrant green to golden brown to a brilliant red. This year, our red oak is taking its sweet time changing from green to red. I am getting impatient. Fall is my favorite. The colors of fall rejuvenate my soul. Let's go, tree. Change it up!

But if we hope for what we do not have yet, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:25

Life is like the leaves. We find ourselves in an uncomfortable season and we are in a rush to get the change over with. Isn't it like God, however, to take his time? I want the leaves to change from green to red immediately. God says, "Wait." You see, there is beauty in the process. Anticipation sits in that space. Everyday I look outside I see a few more red leaves. I wait in wonder trying to imagine what the red hues will look like when they take over that tree.

God doesn't rush us through the process because there is beauty in the change.

We get antsy and itchy to get it over with and God challenges us to slow down. Soon, those leaves will fall to the ground and that beautiful tree will lie barren. Winter will come and the landscape will grow cold and quiet. My soul will long for life to reappear but God will, once again, summons me to wait. For he knows there is beauty in the stripped away moments, too.

We are always in a rush. We want to hurry on to the next thing, the next season, the next chapter. We don't like to sit in the middle. That space is really uncomfortable for us. We lack to see the value in the holding season. We think it is wasted space. However, God doesn't have any wasted space. Every season, whether moving forward or stagnant, has reason and purpose. We want to run on by the change, the stripping away, and the regrowth. Just make us whole again. Renew our spirits. Bring the beauty back to our lives. We have no patience for the in between. Get us to the other side already.

We know the leaves are going to change from green to red. It is a given that the empty branches will bear leaves again. Yet we get impatient and feel like it's never going to happen. We are going to be stuck on hold in this constant state of in-between.

Life is like the leaves. We will change. The season will change; the leaves will become vibrant once more. So will you. There is beauty in the change. Even though it feels gloomy and hopeless, life still moves in the change. I see it everyday when I look at our tree. Greens to reds to empty branches to new growth. Life still moving flowing through the change.

But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. 2 Corinthians 15:7

Do the hard stuff in the in-between. Show up. Take the next step. For you will be rewarded.

Love & Blessings,
Meg

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