the glory of autumn

November 14, 2006

Aahh...the glory of autumn! This is one picture I took last week on a self-guided nature walk through our neighborhood. The trees have been absolutely brilliant in their splendor this year in Philly. The deepest reds, brightest oranges, and eye-popping yellows cry GLORY.

But isn't it ironic? This season precedes that which is the bleakest: the "dead" of winter...occasionally brightened by snowfall. The leaves are so brilliant...because they are dying. It's a strange irony the way creation works at times. Can I learn something from this?

Can I learn that in dying there is a type of brilliant life that's released in the process? That in dying there can be beauty. And I'm not only thinking about physical death. I'm talking about the stuff of dying to my own desires while living. This is much harder (so it seems). The kind of things that include dying to my preferences for "how life should be lived [according to Heather]" in order to understand and love my husband. The small, tiny deaths of talking to a hurting friend when I feel the academic pressure of classes. Or admitting honestly to another that I simply don't have it all together. Admitting that I doubt some days about truth and hope and redemption because the evil just seems so dark.

I've started a counseling internship this fall. And it's been amazing and difficult and at times painful. Sometimes darkness looks bigger than light. Yet the amazing thing is that the smallest, tiniest bit of light--of hope--can begin to bring big change into a person's life. Not always as quickly as my impatience would desire. But enough so that I am reassured that Light--as seen in Jesus Christ--really is more powerful than darkness. One small candle can enlighten the darkest of places. The darkness doesn't have a choice once Light shows up. It's not optional for it to disappear. It has to.

And there is a brilliant side to this Light, seen as the darkness dies its death. That is what has to die in me: the dark places where I try to live as if life is all about me. So far from what we were made for! Oh, to reveal the glory hidden within..............and become as brilliant as this autumn has been!

Below is a picture of Seth & I--2 months of marriage & counting! Loving it, learning a ton about this "dying to selfishness" thing, beholding Christ our Redeemer in new ways. More in a future post...studies call my name now.