As the leaves of tree branches begin to wither away and fall to the ground below, it’s customary for home owners to immediately gather and dispose of them. We perceive them as a “mess” to tend to – an inconvenience that often costs us time or labor to properly rid our properties of.
Both the front and the back of my property are home to mighty trees that have begun their annual dormant ritual of shedding leaves which once thrived in the spring and summer months.
Typically I too am out there on weekend mornings – racking and blowing the lifeless foliage into large piles. But if you were to pass by my house today you’d notice that hasn’t happened. For starters, many leaves have still yet to fall from the branches above, but anything that has already is still there blanketing the ground.
Laziness? Maybe. But for some reason this year, I find this miracle of nature simply beautiful. Their marvelous array of colors; their comforting and sometimes indescribable scent; the sound they make under our feet as we journey along. We’re so quick to dispose of fallen leaves that we rarely spend any time thinking about or admiring them for what they are and represent in life.
“The human soul is slow to discover the real excellence of things given to us by a bountiful Creator, and not until the shadows of death begin to gather around the object that we love, do we see its worth and beauty. Autumn is the dim shadow that clusters about the sweet, precious things that God has created in the realm of nature. While it robs them of life, it tears away the veil and reveals the golden gem of beauty and sweetness. Beauty lurks in all the dim old aisles of nature, and we discover it at last.” ~Northern Advocate
Nature’s beauty is all around us this time of year – a miracle cornucopia of colors and smells that shows its true beauty in its death. Instead of perceiving this natural event as a nuisance, we should be taking time to admire the wonder that it is – allowing it to serve as a reminder that real “beauty” is not only reserved for youth.
