Lessons in Leaves

In many parts of the world, the cool chill of fall means a cascade of multi-colored leaves as the deciduous trees shed their food factories for another year.

In completely calm weather, some of these leaves head gently earthward. Add a drenching rain or howling wind, and some are simply wrenched off their branches. Whether by advancing season or an additional nudge from nature, they all become earthbound unless a temporary stop occurs in a bush or in the roof gutter. Most of this plunge is unappreciated, especially if a homeowner is stuck with laborious leaf-gathering and disposal.

The special blessings leaves afford are largely lost with those terminal fallings and cold rush of winter snows. In summer, leaves provide shade from the scorching sun and coolness beneath by transpiration, that marvelous means God built in to move moisture directly from the leaves into the atmosphere. (Remember shivering after coming out of the water after a swim? Evaporation removes heat and leaves you cool).

The falling leaves can teach us so much of Bible truth. Many believers pass off the earthly scene, and their special impact for Christ is as quickly forgotten as the withered and colorless leaves. Old age and the final departure can be a burden unless we understand each person’s inherent worth and precious focus for the Savior and retain it in our consciousness. Parents may have shaded us from the burning problems of life and cooled us down when we tended to overheat in a temper tantrum. And then the years speed by, and it’s time to move on from the summer of this life to an eventual eternal springtime in the next.

I recently considered the various descents of leaves. Some simply plummet down, with no grace or artful maneuvers. The final moments are no subject for a photo or picturesque narration. They just come down—period! Others seem to flutter, wobbling this way and that in an unpredictable dance with death. Some spiral like a glider squeezing out extra seconds of airborne grace. A few sometimes catch an updraft from a building or other object and soar magnificently for a few fleeting seconds before being finally earthbound. Oak leaves are among the last to fall, and some even linger for months until heavy snow or even the first flush of spring takes then down.

The annual leaf fall is a profile in the final variables of ultimate human descent. Recently, four friends went to be with the Lord, and their passage varied as do leaves heading down.

Dot lived for 95 years and was in great health for almost all of them. Then, at nine and half decades, way beyond the proverbial "threescore and ten," she left so very quickly. Florence reached 84 and spent the last few years in her room and in bed as she tumbled downward in a long spiral. Bill developed a treatable disease that slowly worsened with ups and downs, taking back healthy ground and then losing a bit more. At 67, long before anyone expected him to go, he simply plummeted down and went to be with Jesus. William spent his final years surrounded by family in graceful decline as retirement lowered him gently.

But they all eventually dropped away as Ecclesiastes 8:8 says. "No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death, There is no release from that war…." And, as Eccl. 3:1-2 says, "To every thing there is a season, A time for every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck up what is planted…"

Years ago, my dear musical evangelist partner, blind Erick Webber, often sang "Where the Roses Never Fade" in our meetings. Sixteen years ago, he suffered a stroke, and, after months of downward spiral, left for Heaven.

I heard of Erick’s Homegoing while leading a tour to Israel, the same place where Jesus said to a grieving sister, "I am the resurrection, and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25). As we traveled through a huge Israeli farm of thousands of acres of bright-faced sunflowers, I shared the lyrics of the song with our group:

I am going to a city,
Where the streets with gold are laid;
Where the tree of life is blooming,
And the roses never fade.

In this world we have our troubles,
Satan snares we must evade.
We'll be free from all temptations;
Where the roses never fade.

Loved ones gone to be with Jesus,
In their robes of white arrayed;
Now are waiting for my coming,
Where the roses never fade.

Chorus:
Here they bloom but for a season,
Soon their beauty is decayed.
I am going to a city,
Where the roses never fade.

(Janie West Metzgar – 1929)

Roses … leaves … humans …. They all tumble downward to the ground from which we were taken. For believers in Jesus Christ, the physical journey may be to the ground, but the spiritual transition is to God.

Dave Virkler