Color My World

If you were to drive down my street at the height of summer, you would be amazed at the canopy of shade provided by the numerous, very large trees on both sides of the street.  I've never counted them, nor do I know all the different kinds of trees represented, but they really are a welcome respite from the hot summer sun. 

When the sun takes a more autumnal path, the trees seem to have an agreement to drop their leaves in a very strategic manner.  I don't know when they plan their assault.  I don't know how they plot against those of us who love them (maybe the trees are just perpetually teenagers).  I do know this:  The trees seem to be winning.

There are the early leaf droppers.  They lull their caretakers into false senses of security by doing their business and making their people think that leaf-raking is a one weekend job.  Though they are the first to give up the fight, do not underestimate them.  Their leaves may hit the ground first, but those yellow symbols of futility will still be around after the last yard waste bag has been picked up by the recycling truck.

The showy leaf droppers are impressive in their ability to cover a parked car in leaves in less than a day.  These are the leaves you find in that space between the windshield and the hood and ground into the carpet of your car.  These leaves are everywhere, and they seem to come in an endless stream.  Fourteen bags of leaves this weekend?  You will have 16 next weekend and at least 20 the following.  These leaves will not be around forever.  It will just seem like they are.

My favorite leaf dropper, my favorite tree (with the exception of the orange tree that my parents had in California and any tree in the Sequoia/Yosemite areas) is in my front yard.  Though it went through a difficult limbectomy a few years before we moved here, it is still, to me, the most beautiful tree on the street.  It stays green longer.  It is a late leaf dropper.  And it drops the most beautiful leaves of red, green, and orange  I've ever seen.  Sometimes, I sit and look out my front window and just watch that tree.  Even the way the leaves fall seems to say "We are special.  Watch us as we dance our way to the ground.  And, as a bonus, we can even make your dogs bark as they watch from the window inside your home."  (These leaves are quite chatty.) 

Is it not just one of the coolest things that our world is full of color?  Flowers, trees, birds, fish, sunsets, people.  God could have made our world monochromatic.  I'm very glad He chose not to.  Look at the world around you and try to imagine what it would be like without color.

I'm sure that's what I will be doing for at least the next few weekends as we continue this battle of the leaves.  Eventually, the leaves will stop falling.  Eventually, we WILL get them bagged and sent to the recycling center.  Eventually, my tree will no longer display its beauty in such rich colors and will take a season of rest before beginning the cycle all over again.   And during that time, when the grass is brown and the trees are bare, I will probably paint my living room.  Did I mention I like color?