Movement outside my window is a continual distraction this time of year. The last, lingering leaves floating down in vibrant shades of turmeric and cayenne pull my attention away from the pan on the stove, the recipe on the counter, the book I’m trying to read.
Autumn foliage has been breathtaking this year, and I’m reminded that all this beauty is a portal through which God enters my days and my thoughts. Four times in Scripture we are exhorted to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” The perfection of his creative genius shouts to me when I’m caught in a shower of swirling color.
After all, God could have made leaves fall off the trees without bothering to make the whole process so glorious.
The Lord’s Prayer gives us a great glimpse of the God who choreographs the stars, the planets, the tides, and the seasons. Those glorious changes that occur in the fall are exactly timed so the leaves will be gone when the snow comes. Autumn signals a glorious death, and out of that seemingly dead skeleton will come new life in the spring.
God could have made leaves fall off the trees without bothering to make the whole process so glorious.
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Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done
We pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” and it changes the way we see the events in our lives. Whenever we are called upon to die to ourselves with an act of simple obedience, we are making room for new life to occur—although we may not see it right away!
We put ourselves in the presence of God, his strong, peaceful, loving, all-wise presence, and we present our petitions to him. Whatever is in your hands will look different in that light. This is the confidence we bring with us when we say, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”
Whenever we are called upon to die to ourselves with an act of simple obedience, we are making room for new life to occur—although we may not see it right away!
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Holding You in the Light,
A Bible App Devotional Plan for the Season of Gratitude
For those of us in the United States, Thanksgiving falls in November. However, gratitude is not circumscribed by geographic boundaries. Nor do we need a calendar’s permission to leave room for gratitude, so whether you think of this series of devotionals as heart preparation for the coming season or simply want to retune your heart to the key of thanks, this is your invitation to pay attention to the steady stream of blessing that comes to us through God’s love. May we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, no matter what the season of the year.
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“Autumn signals a glorious death, and out of that seemingly dead skeleton will come new life in the spring.” Love this way of looking at it!
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We can gain so much insight into God’s heart by looking at the world he designed.
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He didn’t need to go to all that bother!
Seems like he did more in Maine however. Of course we have the Pacific.
I’ll Marco soon.
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Looking forward to an update!
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I just LOVE watching the show nature puts on this time of year.
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This is when we are glad to be New Englanders!
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Someone has said if we want resurrection, first there has to be a death. I’m not good with plants, but I did learn that if I cut back my roses a few times a year, they come back with many more blooms than if I let them get long and scraggly. That so aptly illustrated to me that sometimes even seemingly good flowers have to be cut back to be more fruitful. I love that God puts so many object lessons into nature and its cycles.
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What a lovely post to read as I listen to rain falling on the leaves that cover my patio! And what an encouraging thought, that when we obey we are making room for new life to occur, even though it appears on God’s timetable, not ours.
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And that timetable business is why we are so much in need of his grace!
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What a lovely encouragement that what may feel like death and an ending to us is an opportunity for God to do something beautiful and life-giving in our surrender and obedience.
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It certainly reveals the power of God to work in EVERY circumstance—even the ones that feel like a death.
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