Good morning…
After snapping a few pictures, pictures featured in the past few posts, I picked up the red, heart-shaped leaf and brought it home to my friend’s beach house. In my mind, I knew instinctively exactly where to place it for the next season of her earthy life. Earlier in my private retreat, I had admired another calming collection lying on the coffee table. A golden clay cross and black rocks with white veins, each resting atop a pile of colorful books. I laid the leaf upon the cross, sensing she would enhance the experience of balmy beauty. With freckles of sand still intact, this leaf whispered to me of God’s powerful presence through all of life’s seasons.
This one-of-a-kind leaf was born onto a branch. She lived green, changed to red, then blew to the ground at the exact right moment. She was carried on the wind of God’s Spirit to Grayton Beach, Florida, finding a place of rest on the sand with new soulmates, a fallen feather and a stalk of seagrass. Now I lay the dying leaf on the cross, knowing her kinship with our resurrected Lord. I can almost hear them collaborating with the Creator of all: “From beginning to end, life and death birth more life.”
My generous friend is expecting a new grand baby any day now. I spent much of my quiet time in prayer for her, for her expanding family, and for the beautiful, life-giving memories they will make over the years in their fun-filled beach home. I look forward to their next visit when they will feel embraced by prayer-filled walls, sensing the whisper of a red, heart-shaped new addition: “From beginning to end, life and death birth more life.”
Although he was weak when he was nailed to the cross, he now lives by the power of God. We are weak, just as Christ was. But you will see that we will live by the power of God, just as Christ does (2 Corinthians 13:4, CEV).
…Sue…
