"Death Can Give Birth To Life" November 2, 2017

I miss my mom. I miss my mom a lot. I find myself sometimes thinking of something and getting ready to text or call her only to remember she’s not here. Little things, sometime stupid things, throughout each day reminds me of her. And with every reminder, it’s like someone sticks a needle straight into my heart. It hurts. It hurts a lot. And maybe it’s because I’ve internalized my grief since mom passed away, but some moments the pain in my heart is too much to bear.

The world goes on. Life goes on. To the rest of the world the memory of my mom is fading away. And what feels like a lifetime with her, also feels like a blink of an eye to me.

I said this before: Life is short. Much shorter than we could ever imagine. What seems like yesterday, was 3 weeks ago. And what was 10 years ago seems like a lifetime ago. Dr. Suess wrote, “How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”

2 Peter 3:8 says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Psalm 144:4 says, “Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.”

Job 8:9 says, "For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, because our days on earth are as a shadow.”

Psalm 39:5-6 says, “Behold, you have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.”

In a previous post, I wrote about the purpose of a tree leaf and the parallel between the leaf and what my mom did for our family - providing us with food and nutrients as well as shade, a place to hide and a home. I explained that Fall was my mom’s favorite time of year. She loved the way the yellow, orange, red and purple leaves painted the landscapes around her, clothing the world in radiance. But as I said before, the leaves turn those beautiful colors because they are dying. The leaves will soon fall to the ground and be swallowed up by the earth. That is the way God designed it to be.

Leaves die because, in the fall, trees seal off the attachment point on the branch to the leaf so that no water or minerals can be delivered to the tree. Once this happens, the chlorophyll in the leaf breaks down and the leaf begins to die from lack of nutrients. As a result, the leaves turn colors, from red to yellow to purple, and then to brown. The skin and stem of the leaf becomes brittle and the leaf falls from the tree.

Once on the ground, the leaves begin to break down from the elements and become absorbed into the ground, returning nutrients back into the soil for the tree to produce the next generation of leaves. Also while on the ground, leaves protect the levels of moisture that reach the trees and regulate the soil temperature so the tree can continue to grow and flourish. So, even in their death, leaves still bring life to the tree. And, after the tree goes dormant for the winter, in the spring it will give birth to new leaves and the cycle repeats.

I can’t help but think of the parallel this draws to our lives. We are born, we are fed, we grow, we feed others and, when the season changes, we die. Still, even in our death, our legacy, the things we did and what we were known for, can sustain, grow and create new life.

Death can give birth to life. 1 Samuel 2:6 says, “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.” And in John 12:24, Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

This is why it is so important to not abandon the spiritual food and teachings my mom provided to me.

What food are we providing to those around us? What fruitful legacy will we leave behind? The time is now. Not tomorrow. Now. For tomorrow has already come and passed us by. A new season has come. And the remnants of seasons past can sustain us and nourish us. We must not let them have died for nothing. We have a new generation to teach.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV