Lose the Leaves

As I sat outside trying to clear my mind before my next meeting I noticed a tree in the distance. The tree caught my attention because it was still full of bright yellow and orange leaves. Most of the other trees had already lost their leaves, but this tree was hanging on tight to its leaves…just as I keep clinging on to details of the past. Every fall trees lose their old dead unhealthy leaves so that new healthy leaves can be grown in its place. The leaves fall to the foot of the tree where they decompose and the nutrients are absorbed by the roots to help the tree grow deeper and stretch farther.

I am like the tree….I won’t let the details fall…I keep clinging onto them. In order to heal I need to let my leaves fall to the foot of Jesus to my roots. He will absorb all of it the good and the bad and use it. For his word says “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” Romans 8:28. 

Many people around me still think everything is okay because my leaves still have a beautiful exterior even though inside they are dead and unhealthy. Sometimes it feels like I am clinging on to the leaves so tight that I need a gardener to come along and pick these leaves from the branches of my mind and lay them at his feet so that a new healthy leaf can take its place. Other times I think it is a fear of the time that comes between the dropping of the old leaves and the sprouting of new ones….during that time the tree is bare raw. It has no leaves to hide behind anymore and it has to rely solely on the roots to provide for its needs, but isn’t that what we should be doing every day?