Sometimes life seems to be like the blur of colored lines streaked across the picture of a race car captured in the focus of a camera lens. Moments come and go. Some we capture on camera, others we store in our memories. Yet, it’s in the stillness that we can appreciate all the moments that pass throughout the day. Delight in them, learn from them, grow from them.
My office is nestled in an area that is often referred to as the dungeon. Why? There are no windows, and the walls are grey sintered blocks. Being able to take a walk outside around the pond awakens my soul. The cool breeze whispers the language of nature as the sun’s warmth feels my heart with a cozy presence.
I embrace as much as what appears in my view as I can, watching the ducks to see if there is a lesson to learn, searching my path for God’s presence.
Very few times do I sit in stillness and listen. Today as I sat on a bench, listening to the water fall, I looked up at a tree.
“What do you want me to hear or see?”
Sturdy and strong, the tree said nothing. I watched as the leaves fluttered from the wind. Then it spoke to me. As this tree grows, its branches endure many seasons and produce an abundance of fruit.
I’m certain its roots extend deep and wide providing nourishment and water from the soil surrounding it. Standing tall and strong in the warmth of the sun, it revealed a powerful message. The branches represent the seasons of its life and each leaf, a moment in time of its growth. Some leaves have to die and fall in order to bring forth new birth in the next season. It’s in this cycle of shedding the unfruitful moments that produce beautiful moments on each branch.
Such a magnificent image of life in each of us. Our roots in our faith provide a source of nourishment, unseen, bringing forth life through the seasons in each moment. There are good moments and not so good moments that make up our life journey. Shedding the pain and the struggles, healing from the hurts allow new life to bud from within; shedding a particular spotlight on the other moments that create the beauty beaming from our souls. The beauty is found in the magnificence of our strength and growth, just as its revealed through this tree.
God designed each of us in a unique, perfect image. Not only the outward appearance, but all the moments that make up who we are and how we live out His image radiating from within us. Sometimes its difficult to let go of the dead leaf. People, events, reminders intertwine the stem of the leaf making it hard to fall. One thing is for sure, gravity is real and it pulls everything to the center of the earth. God is at the center of your very being, allow gravity to help you surrender the dead leaf.
Women Who Walk By Faith 
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