Autumn Leaves

Have you ever wondered why autumn leaves fall?
Is it gravity?
Is it the wind?
Is it the withering stage of the leaves?

I never know also until I watched a feature on one US news program.As a true wonder of nature, the secret lies within the tree itself. While autumn nears, the trees sends signals to its branches and twigs to start a certain “separation line” between them and each leaf attached to them. The line is so thin that it is not visible to the naked eyes.

A simple test can prove this. The reporter broke a twig during the summer and let it dry. Amazingly, the dry leaves does not easily fall off the twigs even when being subjected to a relatively strong wind. Why? Because the separation line was not yet activated during the summer.

The tree knows when to discard itself even of its most vital parts when necessary – that is to prepare for the winter.Snows that will be deposited on its branches are heavy enough and the additional weight of leaves with snow can ultimately break the branches and cause the tree to die.

May we learn from the autumn tree – to be able to separate ourselves from the good things in our life, from our comfort zones once the call of God arrives. It is not going to be easy but it is what Jesus tells us to do if we want to follow Him.

“Take up your cross”.

Winter will be cold and heavy but, like the tree, we can always look forward to spring time when God’s blessing will pour out in sheer abundance.

The tree will grow new leaves, flowers and, for some, even fruits.
The morning dew will trickle down its leaves once again.
The gentle breeze will whistle though the rustling leaves once more.
The birds and animals will rest on its wide shade.

The tree will get back its splendor and glory.