True Colors

I love fall.  It is absolutely my favorite season and I can’t step outdoors without the beauty simply taking my breath away.  One particular part of my drive each day has been especially gorgeous this year, and I am often praying for those who have lost a child as I drive through a canopy of oranges, reds and yellows.  God brought to my mind an analogy that I feel I should share.  I don’t think it was meant for me alone.

You’ll have to forgive the science lesson….

Did you know the colors are always there?  Red colors are produced byAnthocyanin pigments, which heighten in production in autumn, but the yellows and oranges come from Carotenoid pigments and are found through the entire growing season in the cell’s chloroplasts.  So why don’t we see them until fall?  They are hidden by the overpowering Chlorophyllpigment.  As the days shorten, the production of chlorophyll slows, unmasking the colors that have been hidden within.

So here’s my question for you… as you go through times in your life when the nights are long and darkness seems more prevalent than day,  what is revealed in you?  If you let Him, God will bring out the most amazing display of Himself through you.  As people watch the cold winds beat against you, they will be amazed by what they see God do through your pain.  Of course, there are some species of trees that simply fade to brown and wither.  What are your true colors?

Ben is teaching Sunday School this month and referenced this verse this morning as we are talking about the Hope that we have in Christ and the ways we show that to the world.  It seems very applicable to the thoughts I’ve written here.

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:1-5

The leaves eventually fall because their delicate tissues cannot survive the harsh winter.  God designed them this way to protect the tree.  Let Him protect you, as you go through this season of your life – from the first winter to it’s return each year.  Let Him keep you from being destroyed by the bitterness that could so easily set in.  If you do, you’ll be ready to bloom in the spring.