How Giving it All makes All things Beautiful

The view is spectacular.  So many colors displayed by the fall leaves on the mountains…ambers, golds, oranges, greens, rusts.  I have heard we have missed the “peak” but I think I am seeing exactly what I am supposed to see. 

What I see is creation choosing to sing one last praise song as it dies.  Until the end, these leaves will give all the life they have to the glory of their Creator.  And as they do that, there is beauty. They can do this giving of themselves, because they know that Spring is coming.

I am sure it was more eye-catching a week or two ago.  But when I pause and give attention to this more subtle show it is overwhelming to notice the millions of shades of color across the mountainside. 

Then my conversation starts with Him, “How did you do that? All those different yellows…and why? Do you like them all equally or do you have a favorite? I can sort of wrap my head around each tree having its own color, but then the variety of shades on the same leaf…seriously, that is pretty amazing!”  The mountain sings praise to God in the rustle and falling and I have to praise with it.  And I feel His delight in me as I marvel at these simple things. 

He is big enough for that, you know.  He can handle world peace, poverty, and war AND enjoy you enjoying Him…all at the same time.  We need to know that don’t we? That He cares about the little things that aren’t so little to us.  We need to know it matters to Him because it matters to us. 

“God, you made all of this and you chose to make me?  And then you say in Your Word that I am more valuable to You? How is that even possible?”

And as I write I see the leaves twirling in the air as if singing over and over again,

“O Praise Him, O Praise Him, Alleluia.” 

I want to be like them, those leaves.  Glorious in every season as I give my life to Him.  I see the wrinkles and gray hair in the mirror (boy, I have earned those!) and my body isn’t as strong as it used to be, but my spirit…that is a different story.  Inwardly, I am being renewed every single day as I lean into Him and give my remaining years (days, hours, minutes?) to Him. 

I have learned to live this way because of my son, Mark.  I follow him into this “Color Life” as he called it.  It is a scavenger hunt of sorts looking for all the ways God has shown His love for me, and an opportunity for me to experience intimacy with Him.  Will you join me in this extraordinary, ordinary way of life? The view will most assuredly be spectacular.