A couple months ago I took extra notice of the vibrant colors around Chogoria. We had seen photos of the fall colors in the Midwest where our families are - a time of year we always miss - and in an effort to appreciate the beauty in front of me I simply looked up as I walked around our compound. No leaves change color here on the equator, but there are colors aplenty because flowers are perpetually in bloom.
We are surrounded by color. Whereas the colors of autumn in the Midwest remind us of death, the colors in this "Land of Eternal Spring" remind us of life.
To be sure, the flowers here follow cycles of life and death like flowers do everywhere, but there is no one season where everything dies all at once. We never find ourselves surrounded by barrenness. When one plant loses its flowers, there are plenty more still in full bloom.
To be sure, the flowers here follow cycles of life and death like flowers do everywhere, but there is no one season where everything dies all at once. We never find ourselves surrounded by barrenness. When one plant loses its flowers, there are plenty more still in full bloom.
Because of where I grew up, I used to think of seasons as either being full of life or death. Spring and summer were seasons of life, autumn and winter were seasons of death. Here in Chogoria, we see life and death juxtaposed every day. They live in tandem, neighbors and allies. When the flowers of the flame tree fall and litter the ground with their bright orange petals, the frangipani blooms are clinging to their tree and filling the air with their fragrance. When the purple jacarandas are shriveling under my feet, the pink oleanders are swaying in the breeze.
Life and death coexist year-round, and there is beauty and purpose in both. It reminds me of the words of Paul in Philippians 1:20b-21: "Now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Our Bible Study has been reading Acts, and so much of the early church's story is about living in the tension between their new life in Christ and the increasing threat to their physical lives. But what Paul said is true: whether by life or death, Christ will be exalted.
Nature speaks into this truth. Whether the jacaranda tree is in full bloom, or whether the flowers have long since fallen and turned to dust, the tree gives glory to God.
Life and death coexist year-round, and there is beauty and purpose in both. It reminds me of the words of Paul in Philippians 1:20b-21: "Now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Our Bible Study has been reading Acts, and so much of the early church's story is about living in the tension between their new life in Christ and the increasing threat to their physical lives. But what Paul said is true: whether by life or death, Christ will be exalted.
Nature speaks into this truth. Whether the jacaranda tree is in full bloom, or whether the flowers have long since fallen and turned to dust, the tree gives glory to God.
Even the sun, which is a dying star, gives light and life to all it reaches. Nature shouts at us with metaphors about life and death, if we are willing to listen.
As I was missing autumn a couple months ago, my 6th graders were memorizing a poem for school called Come, Little Leaves by George Cooper. It's about leaves falling, and it's about contentment. The leaves are not portrayed as dying, but as playing, dancing, and flying. They are doing what they must, but they are doing it with acceptance and even joy. My favorite line of the poem is this: "Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went; Winter had called them, and they were content."
Even in death, they were content. Because nature knows what we are still trying to understand and accept: that whether by life or by death, Christ will be exalted.
As I was missing autumn a couple months ago, my 6th graders were memorizing a poem for school called Come, Little Leaves by George Cooper. It's about leaves falling, and it's about contentment. The leaves are not portrayed as dying, but as playing, dancing, and flying. They are doing what they must, but they are doing it with acceptance and even joy. My favorite line of the poem is this: "Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went; Winter had called them, and they were content."
Even in death, they were content. Because nature knows what we are still trying to understand and accept: that whether by life or by death, Christ will be exalted.
Life glorifies God.
Death glorifies God.
Because all of life and death ultimately comes from God.
We are surrounded by both life and death year-round in Chogoria, and we bear witness to the exaltation of the Lord because of it. The hibiscus and poinsettias are proclaiming the glory of the Lord outside the window right now, and they will proclaim His glory when it's their turn to fade because He who has made them has ordained it to be so. They submit themselves to the Creator who grants all of life and death. And they are content.
I pray it will also be so with me.
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The song Every Season by Nichole Nordeman is a favorite of mine because of how beautifully it captures the metaphor of the changing seasons and our lives in Christ. I encourage you to take a listen.
