But the kaleidoscope ends just as quickly as it starts, and within weeks the once bountiful trees are nothing more than skeletal shadows against the fall sky. Their colorful beauty is gone and what’s left behind stands in stark black and white contrast to what once was full of life and color.

Often I feel like my spiritual life mimics the physical. I look back at seasons full of growth and maturation. Times of abundant colors, times of plentiful leaves, times of rich bounty. Other times I feel as if the whipping winds of change are swirling about me- ripping leaves off of my heart, dead things falling to my sides. Sometimes I just feel parched… empty… naked as a tree in winter- just bark with no protection. The color from life is gone, the comfort of my ‘clothing’ has fallen away, and I’m left naked and bare, dry and seemingly empty.

But God is there too. Just as we all know that the life of trees is not in the leaves but in the roots, so also is our walk with God. There are seasons of change, seasons when we are more exposed, seasons of perceived deadness; but there is still LIFE within. God, living in us, remains.

So as fall closes and winter gears up, either physically or spiritually, take heart dear ones. Just as the leaves of the trees will be reborn in the right time, so also will the seasons of our life blossom and bear fruit once again. If our roots run deep into Him, our branches will produce His abundance as well.

Feeling spiritually parched is okay. You’re not dead, you’re not empty. Dig deeper into God during those times. Seek His Living Water, root yourself in His Word. A harvest of renewed beauty- bigger, stronger, more glorious than the last will follow in it’s time.

Psalm 1:1-3 (NIV)

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither- whatever they do prospers.

Take heart!