The vibrant green of the summer leaves is slowly dulling.  Some trees have  already let go of their leaves and have watched as they have floated to the ground.  There is something to be learned, watching as the autumn wind picks up and forces the trees to ‘let go’. 

So much of nature parallels our lives.  In the spring, the trees gift us with leaves appearing as buds, beginning to make their presence known.  Slowly and gently, with the help and support of the sun and nutrients, they open to the world.    Each has a place, is unique and yet connected, as our we, to each other.  It is their time to be, to be open, to be alive, to be receiving of all the world offers to them. 

And then, the seasons change.  What once nourished them no longer does.  Changes surround them, they change.  Their bright green supple nature turns vibrant and then dry.  It is time for the trees to  let go…to let go of the leaves which defined them.  It is time to trust that in letting  them go, they will find new life.  Continuing to hold tight will mean death.  And so, with a little help from the fall winds, they let go and watch as the leaves begin their dance to the earth. 

The trees then stand naked, undressed of their beauty.  What once gave them identity and purpose is now gone.  And so they wait, they patiently wait to see what lies ahead for them as their branches point upwards.

And then, one morning the snow begins to fall.  The white, crystalline flakes find rest in the nooks of the limbs.  The snow continues and the trees are asked to bear the weight of the beautiful snow.  And then it occurs to the trees that if they didn’t ‘let go’ of their leaves, they could never hold the burden of the snow.  Now they don’t generate their own beauty, they hold the beauty of the gift given to them from above.  And they realize that ‘holding on’ would have meant their death.  The weight would have been too much. 

Now they are beautiful in a new way.  They proudly lift their branches upward and hold the gift of the snow.  And when the sun appears, the tree glistens with new life…..the snow relflects light back to the sun and the tree humbly gives thanks.