Your Maple is Showing

This Red Maple was a Christmas present from my hubby a few years ago. He knows how I love trees--not that we have much space left on 2 1/2 acres to plant anything, since I've been digging for the past two decades!

Isn't it beautiful? It was green all summer. Looked like any other leafy tree. Blended in, hardly noticeable. No indication at all that it would soon look like this when everything else was turning brown.

So why did it burst into color? Why didn't it just get dry and droopy like all the other trees?

I don't want the scientific answer. Our intellect and education often get in the way of our understanding. Jesus said we must become like little children before we can see the truth. So give me your kindergarten answer.

"It turned red because that's what was in it to do. It was made to turn red at just the right time. It can't help it. God put the red in there and it has to come out."

A five-minute glance at nature tells us that God loves color, beauty, and variety. Otherwise, everything would be shades of gray.

He created his people like that too. When we see a crowd of faces, we often see only a mass of humanity. But God sees the Red Maple inside each one, the unique beauty just below the surface, waiting for the right time to emerge.

During summer, this beautiful red color would go mostly unappreciated as it competed with flowers and blooming shrubs. But in the fall, splashed against deep jade pine trees, it becomes the star of the show.

Real beauty is often in the timing.

Does the world treat you like just another stick? Another boring oak tree in a forest of oaks?

God doesn't see you that way. He knows what He's put inside you and He knows the perfect season to bring it out. You have a Red Maple hiding inside you!

So continue to grow in the summer, rest in the winter, and don't try to force it. In the proper season, you will be the star of the show.

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