I was walking this morning and enjoying the beautiful fall leaves when I started to hear God speaking to me through them.
He showed me that the most beautiful leaves are the ones that are changing and blemished. How cool is that?
I started to think about all of us and how God changes us as we grow in Him and work toward the day of perfection and I guess I’ve always thought about the beginning and the ending but not the middle. The part that is CHANGING.
Changing is hard. It’s work. It’s leaving old things and clinging to the new. It’s dark and ugly sometimes but as I looked at the leaves I began to see that the dark spots just made them more beautiful. It wasn’t the perfectly changed leaves that I felt God pointing out to me – it was the ones with blemishes that were the most colorful and beautiful.
We don’t have to be beautiful or perfect to be seen and loved by God. He sees perfection in us because He sees us through Christ.
I think my walk away today was simply to revel in the beauty of the change and not let myself be discouraged by the blemishes life and choices may have left in me – that’s beauty to God because it means I’m growing and changing and that’s beauty to others because it means I’m human and relatable.
We all have things we go through that are hard. Some things happen TO us and some things happen BECAUSE of us – our choices. But what if we’re willing to share those things with others and let them see the beauty they are becoming in us as we change and grow?
What if instead of dwelling on them and staying where we are, we decided to use them as a catalyst for even more growth? Just something to think about. Romans 12:2 ESV
In Christ,
Angela Koch
Picture of fall leaves by Angela Koch
We're blessed to have Angela Koch as a guest contributor to A Shepherd's Heart. Angela is the wife of Randolph Koch, Founder and Servant-Shepherd of A Shepherd's Heart. She hails from the Pacific Northwest in the USA where she actively and passionately lives life on purpose for The Lord as she uses her many gifts, talents, and skills to bless others. We prayerfully look forward to further guest posts from Angela in the future.