Shifting Beauty

The time where all seasons combine for just a moment. Fading leaves paint the sidewalk canvas as I walk. They're making room for the cold of the next season and the new leaves to come. Just as the leaves change, so does life. Change is funny. I think majority of us naturally resist it, but also long for it. None of us like remaining in the same seasons for too long. It's this wrestle between contentment and change. There's a balance and none of us on our own are good at finding it. Constant change and discontentment isn't good, but a resistance to change and too much contentment isn't either. Autumn always reminds me of the beauty and goodness of change. The other day, I was walking on the sidewalk and leaves kept falling, littering the path I was walking. Leaves of the past. Leaves that were ready to fall and be left in the wind. And I continued forward as the trees made room for new leaves. For change. For fresh starts. I think in the chaos that often comes with changes, we get lost in it and forget the beauty of it.

Life often looks like leaving old seasons behind and walking into the new seasons. Even and especially when we don't exactly know what the next season will look like, we can walk in faith. Confident in the One who ordains each step. Additionally, we can allow the past to shape who we are and how we navigate the present. The image of walking over old leaves as the trees prepare for new ones is a perfect picture for life. The old leaves are part of life. They are necessary for the new parts of life. I know we all have things in the past we'd rather not remember or talk about. But I think we all can see if we really look how much the past has shaped a greater us. Grown us in love, patience, resilience, self control, determination, whatever it may be. While we shouldn't live in the past, we can always appreciate it and apply the lessons learned in the present.

Another day that I was outside, I was walking and it was like with every step, butterflies fluttered. Not just these small, average butterflies. These perfect, big, bright ones. They were everywhere. And they seemed to just float so delicately, allowing the wind to guide them. Again, change. Beautiful change. To be a butterfly in the wind. Adapting to change and landing where I land. And I can have that rest and assurance because I know Who is in control. The Lord of lords, King of Kings, my Hope, Anchor, and Author. The leaves and the butterflies taught me that change can be restful. Even in the midst of the process of it, the falling leaves before the renewed leaves. The cocoon, the darkness, the effort of growing before transforming. Time, pressure, patience, diligence, strength.... I never said change is often easy. But it is often worth it. I feel like I'm in the transition. Leaves are falling away. I'm stepping into new. And I think I'll be here in this season for a while. I'm not one that easily let's go of the old seasons. The old leaves. But I know that if I don't, that means I am a dead tree. It's the falling of leaves AND the growing of new ones that prove signs of life. They coincide. Both are necessary for the tree to be healthy and alive. So let me be rooted deeply in the Lord and my thirst be quenched from the River of Life. Then, no matter what storm or season of change comes, I will be secure, alive, and well.

I wonder if change itself isn't what we fear, but the loss of control. The timing we don't get to choose and the outcome that we can't fully anticipate. Thank God that He does choose. Every detail... down to the second. The outcomes are known. The timing is planned. Nothing surprised Him. And I think we need to remember to take comfort in that. The sudden changes that occur and throw you off course aren't sudden or unexpected to Him. He is the Author and He knows the outcome. Just as Jonah tried to go off God's course for Him, the Lord brought Him back. Even though the other sailors were thrown off of their course and were confused... God wasn't. There was purpose in the delay and in the storm and in the change. Even so, there is purpose in every step the Lord guides. Let Him lead, especially through the changes. Don't resist His hand. He knows what He's doing.