All at Once

The best tree in the neighborhood flares into bright gold every October. Every neighbor knows the one I mean.

It's this tree. This one tree slows down traffic and walkers as we gaze at its beauty.

But we also know this: This one tree drops all of its leaves in a single day, in what seems like a single moment. Some trees gradually fade into winter with their bony fingers rising up to the air, but this tree saddens us all at once. And we know its coming. By afternoon, we'll have a different view on the street.

So we pause and marvel. It's just like spring with the Weeping Cherry's blooms that last for a single day before the wind and warm afternoon showers take the blossoms down.

I've learned to stay with the beautiful thing that's right here. Tomorrow, we'll hardly know it was ever this glorious. (But the loss won't devastate us because we'll find the beauty in how those bare branches carry the snow and icicles.)

But today:

This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it!