The Color of Leaves
So I got to thinking about leaves. I went out for a bit this morning to give the B&B folks a chance to clean my room (because, yes, during the day I am always working at the desk before my evening visits to the children’s homes). While I was out I noticed, as I had upon arriving, that indeed the leaves have started to fall (though the trees are still mostly green). What I also noticed about the leaves is that they lay in the most interesting patterns and orientations in juxtaposition to the bricks and the cobbles in the walkway. So I began hunting for the eye-catching arrangements on the ground. Now, keep in mind that I didn’t do this for hours – just a few minutes – because let’s be honest, how many pictures of leaves can I take and how many can you look at before saying enough is enough? Right. But there is a point.
Have you ever heard the phrase “let the chips fall where they may” or “let the cards be where they lay” ? I may not have these turns of phrase quite right, but I’ve heard some variation of these in the past. At face value, both are in reference to the chance taken when engaged in gambling. Taken further they can also refer to life lessons – what will be, be. The hand is dealt. The dice are rolled. The chips have fallen. The path is set.
What on earth, you ask, does this have to do with leaves? Well, elevated to another level (as I am lately likely to do) I see the same life lesson being drawn from leaves.
Leaves, in tune with time and season, fall as they must and fall where they may, their orientation on the ground completely at random. Subjected to the mere breath and whisper of a wind (that may or may not have a purpose) they will be taken up and away to the next resting spot. Chance? Destiny? Fate? God.
I, though much larger than the leaf, feel like that at times. I grow and change, fed by what’s around me. And in time and season I too move on, born on the breeze to the next destination. I do believe I’ve some control over what I do, how I react, and how I land (softly or with effort) but little or no control over where I land – leaving much to God and a bit to destiny. Perhaps something will move me along, a gentle nudging in a direction I never thought to take. Perhaps for a time I will lay where I set down, observed from a distance though not disturbed. Or perhaps I will stay put for a time, changing those around me, though my position does not falter.
So I say, let the leaves fall where they may, let the path before me unfold, let the rushing current wrap around me, as water curves around a rock, until eventually it bears me on to the next destination.
I hope you enjoy this, the color of leaves on the ground…indeed the color of fall.
So many things to share, so little time. Coming tomorrow – in the garden.
Have you ever heard the phrase “let the chips fall where they may” or “let the cards be where they lay” ? I may not have these turns of phrase quite right, but I’ve heard some variation of these in the past. At face value, both are in reference to the chance taken when engaged in gambling. Taken further they can also refer to life lessons – what will be, be. The hand is dealt. The dice are rolled. The chips have fallen. The path is set.
What on earth, you ask, does this have to do with leaves? Well, elevated to another level (as I am lately likely to do) I see the same life lesson being drawn from leaves.
Leaves, in tune with time and season, fall as they must and fall where they may, their orientation on the ground completely at random. Subjected to the mere breath and whisper of a wind (that may or may not have a purpose) they will be taken up and away to the next resting spot. Chance? Destiny? Fate? God.
I, though much larger than the leaf, feel like that at times. I grow and change, fed by what’s around me. And in time and season I too move on, born on the breeze to the next destination. I do believe I’ve some control over what I do, how I react, and how I land (softly or with effort) but little or no control over where I land – leaving much to God and a bit to destiny. Perhaps something will move me along, a gentle nudging in a direction I never thought to take. Perhaps for a time I will lay where I set down, observed from a distance though not disturbed. Or perhaps I will stay put for a time, changing those around me, though my position does not falter.
So I say, let the leaves fall where they may, let the path before me unfold, let the rushing current wrap around me, as water curves around a rock, until eventually it bears me on to the next destination.
I hope you enjoy this, the color of leaves on the ground…indeed the color of fall.
So many things to share, so little time. Coming tomorrow – in the garden.
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