Autumn sweeps in with its brisk winds and falling leaves. The golden beauty of the season is undeniable, but so is its quiet truth—everything fades. Isaiah said it best: "We all do fade as a leaf" (Isaiah 64:6). As the once vibrant leaf detaches and falls, so too our days slip away, one by one.
We don’t need lengthy reminders. We feel it in the slowing of our steps, the graying of our hair, the weariness deep in our souls. Life is short and growing shorter with the stretching of our shadows. We are here for a season—bloom, thrive, fade, and fall. Like a leaf.
There is no escaping it. Every breath, every passing year, draws us closer to the ground. The Scriptures are unflinching: "Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away" (Psalm 144:4). We are fragile, fleeting, fading creatures, clinging to the branch. Shall we live another day as though we shall not fall? Grasping at the illusion that our springs will endure, that our summers will never end?
But here’s the thing—our Savior does not leave us in the inevitability of our fall. He joins us in it, having fallen through it, offering life even as we fall. And beyond the fall, beyond the grave, to everlasting life. Our time here is short, my dear flock, yes, but it does not mean that our time can’t be beautiful. For those in Christ, a more wonderful, eternal season awaits—far surpassing the leafy decay of time. And that hopeful anticipation adds color to our life, and death. Or should. To long for that unending, worship-filled day beside the River of Life with Him! And on either side of that river stands "...the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits" (Revelation 22:2). And there are leaves on that tree too—leaves that will never fall, part of Christ’s full and final restoration of all things under His everlasting bough.
“And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2)
So, let the falling leaves remind us—not of winter—but of the urgency of a life lived falling for Christ. The question is not whether we will fall, but how. What will these few fluttering remaining days be for you? Amen.
Thank you for your encouraging words which always speak to my heart, and especially at this time since I recently lost my youngest sister to brain cancer. Death has that effect of bringing us closer to reality.
This was encouraging to read. Thank you!