Ever think about a leaf? It begins in the spring with excited growth, stretching out more and more. It waves in the wind high above the ground and immediately gets to work processing all that stuff from the sun that makes the rest of the tree grow. That leaf probably feels pretty good waving in the wind doing its work, and basking in the sun. But then things begin to change just a little each day. The sun doesn't stay out that long anymore and the leaf begins to feel old and change color. To top it off something from beneath seems to be pushing him closer and closer to the edge. Now there's this fear of being so high up rather than fun in the sun. He probably thinks, "I don't want to fall from way up here!" But no matter how much he fights it he is pushed closer and closer to the edge until finally one day it happens - He is ousted, but the fall isn't so bad, in fact its really more like a drift than a fall. He discovers the ground, and its soft from all those other leaves that fell through the years. Eventually he just crumbles into small pieces, smaller and smaller until finally he's small enough to seep down in the ground and get in those roots and make his way to the top again - this time he's so much higher than before.
Strange is the life of a leaf, and surely there's some lesson in there if we just mull on it long enough. Maybe there's no such thing as a new leaf after all - the past simply provides the fuel we need to grow to greater and greater heights. Can you imagine what it would be like if a leaf just kept on growing for the life of a tree? Leaves would be so big the tree couldn't stand up I guess.
give it some thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment