A tree in season – your Lion Bites word for today
In autumn’s fall, the once vibrant, bright, green colours of the trees change and become beautiful shades of orange, brown, rust, reds and yellows.
These colours are glorious yet they indicate that for that tree, it is a time of shedding all signs of life, as it prepares for the cold. The leaves will soon fall from the tree, leaving the branches bare and empty, until the new, green, buds of life are seen again at the coming of springtime.
There is beauty in all the seasons; each period is required for the fullness of the next. The cycle of shedding leaves for the winter, followed by the fresh flourishing of life in the springtime, is all part of a tree’s annual growth, as it re-absorbs valuable nutrients back from the leaves before it cuts them off from itself. During this ‘regrouping’ process for the tree it conserves water and energy and it protects itself for the harsh months ahead. The lack of leaves even make it easier for the tree to spread pollen when the warmth of springtime appears – fruitfulness from what seemed barren.
When you feel like you are in a winter time of life; when you feel like your leaves are shedding fast and that things are becoming cut off and dying out, consider the tree. The Lord is growing you and you are becoming stronger. As you put your roots down deeper into Him, He will sustain you and strengthen you so that you cannot be uprooted in the winds. Others will even find their shelter in the storm when they draw close to you. You will withstand the elements.
Take heart! This time of regrouping is only a season. Look and enjoy the beauty of the process and remember that new life is coming; spring will arrive again.
Song of Solomon 2:11-13
For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
