Protection

On Sunday I had the wonderful experience of raking leaves in my yard. Yes I am being sarcastic! I love my yard in the spring and summer. It is full of blooming trees and flowers. The trees cover the house in shade and keep us cool and the air conditioning bill to a minimum. However, when fall and winter come around I really start to dislike my yard and all the trees. I even said to my wife a few times on Sunday, "I hate leaves." I thought to myself what is the point of having all these leaves fall off every year just to grow back and have it happen again?

Deciduous trees drop their leaves in order to survive the harsh conditions of winter. Stems, twigs, and buds are equipped to survive extreme cold. Tender leaf tissues however, would freeze in winter, so plants must either protect their leaves or shed them. The evergreens — pines, spruces, and hemlocks – are able to survive winter because they have developed a way to protect their foliage. Their needle-like or scale-like foliage is covered with a heavy wax coating and the fluid inside their cells contains substances that resist freezing. Fallen leaves are not wasted, they decompose and restock the soil with nutrients. The rich layer of decomposing leaves protects the roots of other plants on the forest floor and absorbs and holds rainfall.

There is actually a reason for the falling leaves, not just so I can be punished by cleaning them up every fall. It is a way for the trees to protect themselves, nourish the ground around themselves, and keep water close to them. Many times we view our lives this way don't we - "why is this happening", "this is a lot of trouble," " what did I do to derserve this." We have a tendency to look back on our life and look at our current situations and tell ourselves that things should not be happening like this. When really whatever has shown up in our lives is supposed to be there, it has a reason or a purpose. When there are times in our lives when we are alone or feel alone maybe we are learning how to take care of ourselves. If we are divorced our ex-spouse showed up at the right time to give us the beautiful children we have. If we lost a job it is because we needed to find something better and just did not know how to get out of the job we were in. Whatever comes into our lives is like falling leaves - there to nourish us, protect us, and help us to grow.

There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up, A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

When you look back at your life see all the events of your life as having shown up when and how they were supposed to. See them as the opportunities that you had to go through to grow. And the evidence for this is that you went through it. It cannot be changed except in how you think about it. It is like the blessing of the falling leaves in my yard. If they do not shed their leaves I would not have the beautiful yard I have in the spring and summer and my house would not receive the protection it does then. See those times as a times of protection and perfection.

"I've also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear. Whatever was, is. Whatever will be, is. That's how it always is with God."

Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

Namaste'