Hebrews 12:29
for our God is a consuming fire.
Fall! I love this season. The leaves changing color… Thanksgiving… Enjoying the cool weather outside… Drinking pumpkin spice lattes with my friends as we enjoy each other’s company… Pulling out those sweaters and jackets and going to pumpkin patches with my family… It’s a special time of the year for sure. Of course the season got it’s name for a reason. FALL…The falling leaves. Not only do they change their color, but they are released to the ground so the tree can grow larger and the roots can grow deeper. Healthy trees drop their leaves. It’s what they do. But once they drop, it can become quite the mess.
Where I work (way out in the country) we have lots of trees and of course lots of leaves. If they aren’t raked up a couple times a week, the mess becomes a monstrosity. What we’ve learned to do is to throw them on the burn pile. We take it to the fire. The fire consumes the leaves and they no longer have the ability to smother the yard, harbor insects, or camouflage the walkways.
So it is with things that God graciously helps us to remove from our lives so that we can grow. He brings us to new seasons in our lives where change comes and there’s a difference in the atmosphere. We could try to hold on to the “leaves”, but that would be unhealthy. So he sends the wind of his Spirit to remove them. But that’s not the final step. When these things are brought to the surface of the ground, we can’t just leave them there. They become thicker and begin to cover up the pathway and the healthy grass. Left un-dealt with, they cover up other things that could damage areas of the yard. Areas like the family, the work place, your relationships, and your heart. They even have a tendency to blow over into the neighbor’s yard and cause frustration.
So what is the solution? Take them to the fire. The word says that God is an all -consuming fire. When the things that need to be removed are revealed and you’re left with the choice of what to do with them, don’t leave them lying around. Get rid of them. Take them to God and allow him to do what he alone can do. We can leave them there on the fire until it looses it’s ability to smother your life, harbor things that cause damage, or make the pathway difficult to see.
If you’re having trouble letting go, consider this…It would be crazy for a tree to hold it’s leaves that no longer have life in them for fear of being exposed. This action would cause it to forfeit the new growth that’s coming in the spring. It would be just as sad for us to do the same. God loves our willingness to let go and get rid of the dead things because there’s a new season ahead. There is new life and growth and being exposed before God always leads to Him covering us.
Ecclesiastes 3
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven