Guardian Angels News

“Autumn scatters the seeds that will bring new growth in the spring… this hopeful notion that Living is hidden in the Dying is surely enhanced by the visual glories of Autumn. What artist would ever have painted a season of dying with such a vivid palette…”  ~ Parker Palmer,  Let Your Life Speak, p. 98

Wow! Did you see the brilliance of the trees this weekend – flashing in all their technicolor glory? Everywhere I looked – especially up north – I was overwhelmed by the amazing display and in awe!

It totally reinforced for me that this was the Autumn Face of God! And I have learned that God has messages - things to make me think and reflect – in everything. What I see in these radiant colors is the opportunity to reflect on what the various colors of the leaves as they turn might mean for me in my life. You may be inclined to reflect on these different colors in your life, too, as I do in my life. 

As I see it the various colors of leave can lead me to reflect on something like this:  

• GREEN leaves... may suggest Life, Growth, Change, or “Go!” What does it mean for me to be fully alive? Full of newness and possibilities? How flexible am I to adjust to the changes that come my way... to trust in God and let go? – to “GO” where God leads me?
• YELLOW leaves... Light, Guidance, Caution, Conversion Do I see Jesus as my light? -How am I a light in the darkness? - Do I hide my light? – How well do I follow Christ from darkness into light?  - Do I take time to slow down? Pause? Yield?Think before I act?    
• ORANGE leaves... Warmth, Creativity, Stimulates Appetite Where and how does God bring me comfort and warmth? How do I co-create with God, using the gifts God has given me to build God’s kingdom here?  What appetite does God stimulate in me and how? What am I hungry for? What do I just have to pursue? 
• RED leaves... Boldness, Inciting Action, Passion, Holy Spirit, Anger, Stop Signs In what ways am I bold and passionate? Where and how do I see the Holy Spirit working in my life right now? What anger stops me in place? Where might I see myself being called to stop and choose a different course?
• BROWN leaves... Dull, Underfoot, Trampled, Death, Decay Nourishing New Life, Finally Letting Go What do I do when I feel trampled by life or walked all over? What “Deaths” have impacted my life? Where is God in these?  Is there something decaying in my life? How could this decay nourish some kind of new life? What in my life can I just not seem to let go of? What might I finally be able to let go of?

 And all these things live together in Autumn, harmoniously and vibrantly (a strange word for something that is in the process of decay.) Maybe that is why I am blown away by the shear radiance of Autumn colors, so pregnant with opportunities for me to reflect upon as I contemplate the face of God within them.

In the visible world of Nature a great truth is concealed in pain sight: diminishment and beauty, darkness and light, death and life are not opposites. They are held together in a paradox of the “hidden wholeness. ~ Thomas Merton

Loving God,

Thank you for showing your face to me within the colors of the Fall leaves.

Holy Spirit, guide my reflection upon these colors in my life, and where I can find God in them.

May I appreciate the messages you bring me in these colorful Autumn leaves, and do some prayerful work.

~ Amen

_{Photo Credit: MaryPat Potts}