Oh Love....the many colors that you're made of...

I took a walk yesterday.  It was good for lots of reasons.  My mind got to wander.  The breeze blessed my face and tousled my hair.  Let's not forget that it WAS exercise.  And...the colors.

God really outdoes Himself during Fall.  I felt kind of hokey but I stopped and picked up leaves along my walk.  This picture showcases a few of the ones that I felt were worthy of a photo op.  Honestly, this picture doesn't really do the colors justice.

As I walked and took it all in I felt God's Presence right there with me.  I think He was enjoying me (His child) as I enjoyed His beautiful creation.

We do that as parents sometimes.

We get complete joy from watching our kids get joy.

I think God did that with me yesterday on my walk.

I also did something a little out of the ordinary for me.  I listened to one song on repeat for my entire walk.

It is the duet that Carrie Underwood and Braid Paisley sing about Love.

I felt like it was the perfect backdrop for my walk...so I just let it play over and over and over again. 

Again...a little hokey...but that is who I am.

Some of the lyrics go like this...

Oh love, oh love
Oh the many colors that you're made of
You heal, you bleed
You're the simple truth and you're the biggest mystery
Oh love

The whole song is just amazing.

AND I believe God wanted to talk to me about His love toward me and the world.

The colors that surrounded my landscape almost swayed in unison with the song and God's voice.

(Obviously this is a secular song....but hey, God can use anything with a willing ear to listen.)

Anyway, as the song played over and over again I was just overwhelmed with the beauty of these colors that only astound us one time a year.  People stop to stare at trees.  People pull out their cameras to take pictures.  People collect leaves and dry them in books to somehow stop time with their beauty.

And it only happens through the process of death.

These leaves are changing from gorgeous green to brilliant purples, red, orange, and yellows.

They are more gorgeous in death than they ever were in life.

Now can you see how God was speaking to me through the colors and the song?

God.  The self-existent One.  The Maker of Heaven and Earth.  The Redeemer of Man.  The Friend of Sinners.

He died.

And in His death He did a brilliant thing for us.  He gave us life....eternal.

Once we accept this gift of salvation He asks us to live in a way that contradicts this world around us.

He says, "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God~ this is your spiritual act of worship."  Romans 12:1

"Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life preserves it." Luke 17:33

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."


As a follower of Jesus Christ, these are hard words to hear...and even harder to live.

But do we miss out on the beauty of losing our lives for His sake?

Would the world be stunned to silence if they witnessed the brilliance of Christians living as sacrifices?

I think our lives would take on colors the lost world has never seen before....if we wold DIE to ourselves and LIVE for Him.