Sometimes You Need a Few Cold Nights

On our recent trip to Abingdon, Virginia, with our senior adults, we enjoyed good food, a great show at the Barter Theatre, and, of course, good fellowship. One of the best things about getting away together is that you never know what conversations will happen or what little things will stick with you after you get home.

As we were riding through the mountains, I noticed most of leaves were still green. I made a comment about how I thought we would be seeing more fall color by now. Frank Hannah told me that we needed some cold nights in a row to bring out the colors.

Well, I’ve been thinking about that ever since.

You mean the leaves need a little cold weather before they can show off their beautiful colors? There may be a lesson in that for us!

We all like the good seasons of life. We like it when things are going well, when our plans work out, when our families are doing well, and when we can see where we are headed. We would probably prefer to skip the cold nights, the hard days, and the times when life doesn’t turn out the way we expected.

But maybe some things in us come to the surface only when life gets a little difficult.

Maybe patience grows when we have to wait longer than we want to. Maybe compassion grows when we experience our own disappointments. Maybe our faith becomes stronger when we reach the point where we realize we can’t fix everything ourselves and have to trust God to see us through.

I don’t believe God sends hard things our way just to teach us a lesson. Life can be hard enough without trying to explain every disappointment. But I do believe God can work in us, even in the seasons we would never choose for ourselves.

James 1:3 reminds us that the testing of our faith produces perseverance. That doesn’t mean the hard days are easy or that we have to put on a happy face when things are not going well. It simply means that God is still at work, even when we can’t see what is changing.

And maybe that’s the hardest part. We want to see the color before the cold nights come. We want to see the results before we’ve gone through the waiting. We want to know that everything is going to turn out all right before we’re willing to relax and trust God.

But that’s not always how it works, is it?

Sometimes God is at work in ways we cannot yet see. The cold nights may not be comfortable, but they help bring out the color. By God’s grace, some of the most beautiful things in us are formed in the seasons we would rather avoid.

So, I’ll be looking at the leaves a little differently this fall. And the next time life brings a few cold nights, maybe I’ll remember Frank Hannah’s observation.

Who knew a comment about green leaves on a trip to Abingdon could give me so much to think about?