This past Fall, I often ran on the bike trail that follows alongside the Mississippi River. The trees that line the river
provide a most welcomed distraction from my labored breathing and sore legs. One particular afternoon, in early October, the colors stopped me dead in my tracks. It was as if they were demanding my attention. The trees had reached a new height of glory. If an orchestra was playing in the background, the music would have been swelling to its climax. The trees looked like gigantic lollipops – each displaying their own unique beauty that invited me to take a step closer.
This beauty is found only during the peak of autumn – during a season of intense change. This is also a time of preparation for the winter months. As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, the trees go through a series of change. The leaves begin to change colors: green transforms into a vast array of yellows, oranges, reds and purples. Each screams for attention. The leaves possess an almost human like quality of self-control as they hold onto their branches until the last possible moment – before surrendering and gently floating to the ground. The trees must prepare for winter by shedding their leaves in order to survive until next spring. While it is a season of immense change, it is also a season of intense beauty.
Change is not comfortable. Some people flourish in times of change, others shut down. Change can bring out the best in an individual or the worst – sometimes simultaneously. It reveals a persons character and draws on his/her hidden strengths. Through this season of change, the individual’s true colors shine through.
Through past experiences, I have learned that if I surrender the reigns and let God use these seasons of change for the good, that I normally am a stronger individual because of it. By sacrificing comfort and control, the Lord uses this time to mature me and mold me into the person he created me to be – to help me discover my true colors.
One such season took place during college (this period in my life played host to a kaleidoscope of changes). As a freshman, I thought that I wanted to be a veterinarian. Through the remaining three years, my focus gradually changed from animals to people and my mindset evolved from small town Iowa to the wide open world around me. By the end of my senior year, the Lord had taken my heart for a complete 180°. Medical school had morphed into international missions (granted it still excites me to use medicine in developing nations).
This change did not come easily. I fought it at first. But gradually, as I surrendered more of myself and my life to the Lord, I learned to enjoy the roller coaster ride of ups and downs and twists and turns and upside-downs. During this season of change, I feel like the Lord was able to unveil an inner beauty that had never had the opportunity to shine before. The Lord was changing my colors. Today, as my passion for Him and the nations grow, my colors become even more brilliant…as it is with each of us as we discover who we are in Christ and the role we play in His kingdom.
Change is not easy, but it is a fact of life. When we can appreciate change as a season of brilliant beauty, we can come to embrace our many colors. Beauty is allowed to radiate from deep within ourselves when we surrender our lives fully to the Author of change. During these times of change, unbeknownst to us, God is often preparing us for the next leg of our journey…
