THE DAY THE LEAVES TURN GREEN

It’s one of the events that jump out at us, even though we know it’s coming. Spring arrives and the flowers start to blossom, the grass greens up, and the trees are budding. But one day, usually late May or early June, I’m driving down the highway and all of a sudden, I see that ALL the leaves are green! It just dawns on me that they’re all green. It happened gradually, but now the process is complete. And it’s quite pretty!

A similar experience happens every autumn when all the pumpkins turn orange. I drive by the same fields every day, but whammo – suddenly the pumpkins are all orange! This seems to happen more quickly because the green pumpkins are shrouded in the green vines and the green weeds. So the orange seems brighter than ever.

Other events in life are also like this. Wow, I just turned 40 [or 50 or 60 or (gulp) 70] – even though we knew it was coming, suddenly it’s here. But unlike the leaves and pumpkins, our age doesn’t repeat each year. Once we reach that milestone, it’s on to a new one.

I think it’s human nature to avoid thinking about future events over which we have no control. Tax day, for example – If we’re wise we’ll prepare for it. But it still seems to sneak up on us. Retirement is another – we save and invest and then we ask if we did enough.

There is one event that we can also prepare for, and that’s the return of Christ to the Earth. He told us to be ready at any moment for this blessed and hopeful event. We know it’s coming, but do we avoid spending very much time thinking about it? If we’re not sure how to prepare, God has giving us His plan in His word, the Holy Bible. Be sure to look it up. I did, and I’m ready for His return or the moment He calls me home – whichever comes first.

COPYRIGHT 2019 BY CARL E GUSTAFSON