It's that time of year again: everything is new. At least, school is starting, so we have the New Year for Youth Ministry. We try new things, try to get kids plugged back in, get frustrated when it starts slow, hope that we can reach all, be all things, etc, etc.
Fall is about the weather changing, and killing everything green. But it's my favorite season - kind of funny. I like the shift to cooler (but not yet cold) weather, wearing sweatshirts and jeans, and turning the A/C off.
I think about how God preps the earth - trees shed their leaves and then, basically, die for a season. He freezes everything, and it takes all of the life away until he shifts it all again and makes it all truly new. Spring makes it all green again. Life is restored.
And, it's not that hard to see the line I'm drawing here...
I have spent the last couple of weeks in a down state, dead inside. I've been worried about everything, dreading everything, not wanting to even answer my phone for fear that I'll be asked to do more, help more. It culminated in me basically going off to my friend about everything under the sun. The look on her face said all I needed to hear.
And then something really weird happened: I woke up on Thursday morning full of life and passion, even though I was more physically tired than I could remember being in a long time. Suddenly, I was looking at everything differently than I had 24 hours earlier.
May my freeze be over, and may the Living God bring my limbs and my roots back to life, green and beautiful.
