Falling for Jesus

I did a lot of manual labor this afternoon in my yard. It is autumn, so I had to get the leaves that fell from the trees to the front yard so the town can come pick them up this week. Lots of work.

As things were winding down, and I transitioned to picking up sticks in the yard and putting them in a barrel to burn next spring (marshmallow roast!), a little neighborhood cat sauntered into the yard. I heard the rustle of the leaves and then saw this little furry tabby trotting over to see me. The cat comes periodically. I don't know where he lives, but he is very sweet. He stays a while and then leaves.

I sat on my deck and the cat came over to sit next to me, so that gave me an opportunity to take a little break. The sky was blue, it was later in the afternoon so the sun was that bright twinkly autumn type of sun - low in the sky and giving everything a golden glow. Even though the trees are almost bare there are still leaves that float to the ground.

In the late afternoon stillness, there came upon me a very gentle breeze and the air was still warm for November. As the leaves fell I could see and hear them hit other branches on the way down, and they floated as if they were choreographed to some celestial ballet. The cat watched too. We sat together in silence.

That scene reminded me of our souls. He is the vine and we are the branches and perhaps at the end of life, our souls are like the leaves that let go of the branches and float, in total abandon, into the arms of our Heavenly God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I think the moment of death must be like that, if we die in the grace of God. If we don't die in the grace of God well, I don't want to think about that. I want to stay in the grace of God. I've always been afraid of dying, but not of death. Dying can be painful, but the moment of death must be glorious. Like the leaves, we die to ourselves and float into the great Wind - trusting, resting, joyfully letting go knowing that we have done what we were called to do.

Another image that popped into my mind while watching the leaves fall was that how God is bigger than all of this - bigger than nature, bigger than us, bigger than the universe. So that all that I was seeing was actually happening WITHIN God. All of this was part of God, within God, and done by the power of God. That made me feel a sense of contentment.

I love fall because it reminds me that we should ever fall more deeply in love with Jesus. Today. Tomorrow. And all our days.