A Heart At Home With God

As my family and I were driving to worship one autumn Sunday morning, I commented to my passengers how beautiful the fall leaves were. In spite of the harsh, dry weather, the trees had not disappointed me and truly demonstrated the artistic flair of God. My wife echoed my sentiments and our children were soon pointing out which clusters of leaves they especially enjoyed.

“Look at that red!” “I like the orange best!” “Those yellow over there are really bright!” So we continued to drive for the next couple of miles while they continued to “oo” and “ah” over the arboreal fireworks. Then the voice of our youngest son rang out, “Look at THOSE leaves! They’re brown! They’re dead!”

I glanced at him quickly in the rearview mirror and wondered at how quickly our conversation had turned from the wonder over the beauty surrounding us to the grim acknowledgement that, yes, there were also the portents of death.