That Brilliant Tree!

Years ago, I remember what fun it was during the fall of the year - raking leaves, jumping into the pile, and starting all over again. (True confessons - I didn't "jump" into this pile in Durham, but the boys had fun covering me up!) Eventually the piles were raked up and dumped into the ravine near the railroad track. But I also remember trying to find the most brilliant maple tree in town; sometimes it was the maple in our yard. Those colors simply fascinated me with how brilliant they were!

My mission was to pick the most brilliant leaf from that tree to keep in my room. However when I picked a leaf and looked at it, there seemed to be another leaf more brilliant in color than the one in my hand. So I would pick that leaf, examine it, and then see another leaf more brilliant in color than that one. This could go on for a while, but finally I realized that there was not a single leaf that was perfect in color, shape, or size.

When I saw this tree in South Boston recently (imagine it without the pole!), God told me that this most brilliantly colored tree is made up by the body of Christ. The entire tree itself is Christ - as the most brilliantly colored, perfect tree anywhere. Anyone who would gaze on it would be in awe because of its brilliant colors, shapes, and sizes. Only God can create like this!

Then God told me that I would not find one perfect leaf. It takes every leaf on that tree to go through the process of changing from Green to Yellow to Orange in order to create that very brilliant color. It takes the entire group to create the overall brilliant effect.

Every leaf is working together at their own pace to reach the brilliant colors of fall. All leaves do not change their color at the same time. It depends on factors such as the amount of sunlight they receive as well as water and other nutrients.

In the body of Christ, each of us has a unique role in fulfilling the will of God in our lives. This is the will which He created just for you and me, and if we are not demonstrating our skills and abilities which God gave us, then we are not fulfilling that will of God for our lives. We are not creating the “brilliant” demonstration of God’s love in our lives.

There is something else about leaves that is interesting. “Leaves are very special because it's in the leaves that the tree works it's magic by making its own food. There are veins in each leaf and they take in water from the tubes in the tree trunk’s sapwood and carry food made by the leaves to the rest of the tree. Trees cannot move from place to place, but they can very slowly turn their leaves to face the sun.” (“The Magic and Mystery of Trees”; Jen Green; Penquin Random House, pg 18). Sunlight is the highest source of energy for a tree. So for the leaves to make the food for the tree, they do everything they can to gain the most sunshine in that process.

In the spirit, the body of Christ must focus on the SON-shine to grow in Him. Each of us must be fed by God's Word. Just as the veins in each leaf take in water from the tree to make and carry food to the rest of the tree, we must stay in God's Word to feed our spirit and the spirits of others. If each of us is doing this, the body of Christ is being fed, and if the body of Christ is being fed, we will be able to demonstrate to others the brilliant light of God's love within each of us - individually and as the body of Christ.

Enjoy this beautiful time of the year. Know that each of us is a brilliantly colored leaf combined with other brilliantly colored leaves to create a brilliantly colored tree to the glory of God!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Rachel