As I drove through the late-autumn mountains this weekend, all I could think about when I saw those leaves fall were the moments when I lost my foliage. When I personally went from abundance to barren. When I felt life stripping me of my identity.
Can you resonate?
Have you ever felt like those trees stripped of all their leaves? Standing there vulnerable and uncertain of what the future holds? Knowing it will probably get worse before it gets better?
When I’ve had those seasons, what I couldn’t see at the time was how necessary it was for everything but my foundation to die. I had to let it all go.
I needed a season where I felt open and vulnerable, so that when the time was right, it could all grow back stronger. When the time came, new life would emerge. I would return better than ever, but only because I let go of what needed to be released.
Over the last several years, I’ve gone through so many pruning experiences, and also experienced so many abundant joys, that I’ve simply accepted this is the inevitable flow.
My wish for each of you is that you may come to recognize we cannot be evergreen trees. If you feel stripped down to the bones, if you feel your identity blowing away, if life is doing the pruning for you that you weren’t able to do for yourself, let it go. Acknowledge you are in a season. Acknowledge this is temporary. It will not last.
Trust that just ahead is a season filled with greenery, floral decadence and abundant fruit. Your spring is around the corner.
If you are in a spring, enjoy every day of it. Smell the roses. Take lots of pictures. Soak it all in. Because the seasons come and go.
May we all learn that these seasons are simply part of the process. A necessary step in our growth. May we begin to see there is beauty in the fall and winter.