With Autumn well on her way we are living during one of my favorite seasons. I love the cool crispness to the morning air, the approaching holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and the beautiful color here at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. Autumn (a much better word than fall) is a wonderful time.
One of the things that strikes me is how God makes the trees so pretty and lets the leaves show off right before they die and fall to the ground, and then they sit there, a beautiful blanket adorning the ground, a reminder of how miraculous the trees looked not long before.
While the leaves fall and die, the tree remains alive, it just goes into hibernation mode to await Spring and the new leaves that it will bud, the new grandeur it will have.
We are like trees. Right before our abuse we are beautiful, we feel invincible, we could even be living to our full potential. As creatures of God, we are gorgeous. Then WHAM- abuse (of any form) happens and we shed our beauty. We move into hibernation/survival mode. We are bare, empty of what gave us our beauty, our joy.
Yet, like the trees we don't have to remain bare. We can choose to bud new leaves, to be reborn, to see the beauty in our lives, that God sees all the time. Abuse is like winter, it is cold and harsh. But, we don't have to live in winter forever. We can move into spring. We can be reborn.
It takes time, it takes work, and it doesn't happen overnight. Yet, in the end we can full of beautiful green leaves, we can be joyous and have an amazing life. It is our choice. It is the most courageous choice. It is easy to wallow in winter, in self pity. It is easy to feel sorry for ourselves. It is hard to take the steps and move on, but even a snow lover like myself doesn't want winter year round.
Gather up your courage, see the beauty around you, and then see that you too are beautiful.
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