by Brett Manero
Fall has arrived. Indeed, it’s nearly the middle of October, and the year of 2024 AD is quickly approaching its conclusion.
There is something paradoxical about the season of fall (or autumn, if you prefer). It is an immensely beautiful season. A few weeks back, I spent the weekend in Granby, Colorado, where the higher elevation allowed for a much quicker transition of the leaves into the orange colors of the Rocky Mountains. Weeks later, the leaves of Denver are almost universally colorful. In perhaps two weeks, they’ll easily be at their peak.
It’s ironic that the change in the foliage is actually a symbol of death. The leaves bud and are born during the springtime, reach their “adulthood” during the summer months, and arrive at the conclusion of their lives during the fall season. It is metaphorical of the journey of human as well: from conception to birth, to growth and adulthood, to death and eventually, Resurrection. It is rather amazing how God puts familiar patterns all throughout our lives and throughout nature.
What is most amazing about fall is just how ironically beautiful this symbol of death is. We don’t think of death as beautiful, and naturally so. Death is the antithesis of our very existence: human beings naturally resist it, because our very nature is to be alive and flourishing. But the change of the colors of the leaves is beautiful and immensely peaceful to watch. Could it be that death can be a beautiful thing? Such is the genius of the Christian message: God has transformed death into something which is no longer horrific and frightful, but rather into something hauntingly beautiful.
The Prophet Hosea contains a cryptic message that is clearly better understood in the light of the New Testament: “Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction?” (Hosea 13:14). It’s a rather mysterious open-ended question by God Himself, who seems to be pondering if He will liberate the human race from the slavery of death. St. Paul paraphrases this quote in 1 Corinthians, as he ponders the mysteries of Resurrection and what eternal life will look like.
Much of the genius of the Christian faith is that death is transformed from something that represents defeat into something that represents victory. Suffering, too, is transformed into something that can have immense value. Death need no longer be feared by the one who follows God.
The fall leaves are wonderful to look at. They provide a delight for the eye, and they remind one of the swiftness of time. Perhaps they are part of God’s plan to remind us that the time is short, and He is coming soon.