This afternoon I decided to pop out of my dorm for a pretty little picnic that the seniors prepared for new students. Yes, a "pretty" picnic is how you call an event where they basically give you a nice welcome before the nightmares start. And a "welcome" is a shorter word for "tips to lessen the agony" or "warnings for freshies taking economics".
My favorite shortcut to the university is the sports ground, comprised of a small running track and a couple of tennis and beach volleyball courts. It has been raining the whole morning, and now I realize that Autumn only looks pretty with the orange leaves, but not the wet ground. On my way today it was very noticeable how the trees along the sports ground started turning yellow in a matter of days, with their leaves turning yellow to orange, like a poetic sunset, before they finally fall to the ground. The whole Autumn season here is pretty short, from mid-September through November. While I was looking up the trees, I felt like telling them, "the next couple of months will probably be just enough for your leaves to completely shed off before winter."
But as I stepped and walked past the orange leaves on the ground, I found myself asking, "Were the trees designed to endure the months that they can only stand Autumn, or was Autumn designed to be that short until a time that trees can only stand?" Which one was made for what?
In a number of times we find ourselves in the middle of something difficult. Like trees, we turn to a color which people don't normally see the whole year round. Further, we shed things from ourselves --- our resources, our happiness, and our strength. We try to endure it to a certain stretch, but when all is exhausted, we finally ask if it can just be taken away from us.
I just realized that the Season is very wise, and He sees what the trees are going through. He knows when the they're experiencing extreme cold. He knows when they've had enough shedding. But He, too, knows that He can't stop until such time that the tree has shed off from it's last earthly leaf. He even knows that after the trees have been stripped off of all its leaves, it's going to have to endure more months of colder weather in Winter, so there's not much of a point in stopping the challenge in Autumn. Why? Because He knows that it would not be possible to bloom the most beautiful flowers in Spring if the trees don't shed off and endure that difficulty.
As I stepped and walked past the orange leaves on the ground, I thought maybe the answer to my question is, it's both. I felt like a tree shedding in Autumn, and I know there's still going to be a long Winter ahead of me. But God has designed me in such a way to help me endure these hurdles, and He designed these hurdles in such a way that I am sure to endure them. My favorite quote says, "God doesn't give you what you can't endure." It has always been a game of trust that I continue to fail on every day, but I'm happy to have heard His message through the beautiful leaves of Autumn today. #
'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's.' --- 2 Chronicles 20:15
