Let me start with an extreamely obvious statement...I love creation. I say this to myself and it seems so obvious, but I do, I really love looking around at the world that God has created and trying to take it all in, which of course is impossible due to its greatness. I love the colors that fill every space around me, the smell of grass, the way the chilly air nips at my skin, the sounds of all the tiny animals going about their business, and the silent voyage of dead leaves as they so gently float and twirl down to the ground. More than I love seeing and hearing and feeling creation all around me, one of my favorite things is when God gently reminds me of one of His truths through all that He has established.
This very thing happened as I was driving home from work the other day. I noticed how the leaves had all changed colors and how Fall was offically in season.
Don't you just love this season?? Can anyone argue that we are surrounded, for a short time, with vibrant colors which demand attention and force you to stop and notice them? It is as if they are saying "look at me, aren't I glorious?"
Now I have known for many years...probably since about the first grade...that the leaves on trees die during Autumn, and that is why their color changes...we all know that. The thought that was new for me, was that it is the death of these leaves that brings about their beauty. For they can not change without the death.
"There is great beauty in death." That is the quote I heard in my head. Of course the only thing I could think about then was how beautiful the death of Jesus, my Savior, was, and how His death and resurection has brought about my new life.
I began thinking about how I am commanded to "die to myself" in order that I might have life, the life that only Jesus can give. I am so thankful that because of Christ, and because I am in Christ, when the God of our universe looks down on me, instead of seeing me for who I really am, with my filth and dirt, He sees nothing but the blood of Christ and the beauty that is Christ.
Oh how I love that even the little things, like the changing of leaves, screams the truth of Jesus. It may be a silent scream, but none the less, it makes me wonder, if I take moments to pause, and look for Jesus, where else will I find Him?
How thankful I am that I am a new creation, ever changing to become more like Christ. Not because of anything I am choosing to do, but because of what Chirst has already done for me.
And how thankful I am for a soverign God, who is majestic enough, to remind me of His love for me, even in something as tiny as a leaf.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation"
2 Corinthians 5: 17-18
