I was thinking about why the Americans call this season 'Fall' and it dawned on me that, despite being more beautiful than they have this year, they are falling, dying.
It is, in essence, a beautiful death. One marked with such beauty
This got me wondering about how else a death could be considered beautiful and I realised that there is no death more beautiful that us dying to ourselves.
This is a intertwining theme spanning the Bible.
Jesus tells us in Luke 9, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
Like us, the leaves are dying in order to bring life. There is a promise of renewal, of something better than what we have now.
Bonhoeffer talks about how to die to ourself is saying "He leads the way, keep close to him".
Keep Him close
All else is secondary
