Beauty in Dying

A thought struck me today...I've been eager to go hiking to see the beauty of the leaves -- the vibrant colors that this season brings, especially in the North Georgia Mountains. We ended up at Stone Mountain instead yesterday afternoon and saw some colors. But I was thinking more about what we're enjoying and the reason we even see those beautiful colors -- because the leaves are dying. I don't know the science behind it (I feel like I once learned in elementary school science why the greens turn to orange, brown and yellow), but I do know that something's dying to display that beauty.

What an unusual thing to savor; and it's such a contrast to what we celebrate in spring, new life and birth. But it displays the creativity of God that both display such color and beautiful scenes in nature. Perhaps it's because he sees equal beauty in both life and death. We certainly know the beauty of the cross and His son's perfect sacrifice, that although horrific in display was beautiful in the purposes it accomplished. And as I think on the cross, I wonder, Is my dying beautiful? As His son's follower, I'm called to take up my own cross, and die daily. Am I doing that, dying to me so that His colors can seep through, or is my pride still on display? May I die to me, and be raised to life again in him, and may my dying be beautiful.


"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." - Jesus