There are few leaves left on the trees here in Petoskey. A stiff northern wind has made sure of that. For many, it is a depressing time of the year. The colors are gone and the snow has yet to brighten the landscape. And I have to admit that I end up spending more time indoors than is typical — a good time to catch up on my blog.But I do relish a weather challenge and Sunday afternoon was perfect — rain, hail, thunder, lightening, and occasionally the sun broke through. I headed just a mile down the road to a nature conservancy. Deep into the woods, the trail became a boardwalk as it crossed soft ground near a stream. Plastered to the walk were leaves in various patterns. Most folks would overlook them but I enjoyed the intensity of the wet, earthy, colors and the simplicity of their interaction on the easel of the boardwalk. As I worked on my images Sunday evening I was reminded of a story my pastor had used the previous Sunday. He talked about the experiences of a family in German occupied Netherlands in WW2. Their incredible story was made known through a book written by Corrie ten Boom called The Hiding Place. Corrie and most of her family ended up spending time in German concentration camps for being part of the underground and hiding Jews in their home. Four of the ten Booms died in the camps but Corrie survived. As you can imagine her return home at the war's end was bittersweet — very happy to be home but missing her family. One would think that on looking back at her time in the camps Corrie would have nothing but feelings of horror and despair but that was not the case. There was a part of her experience in the camps that she actually missed. In the camps, life was minimal — barely enough of the essentials to survive. But in that place where life was stripped down to almost nothing, there was a moment by moment reliance on God. The spiritual life in the camp was very strong.
So now, when I see a bare tree and a few decaying leaves on the ground I think of what is really important in life — certainly not my things — not even my camera or computer :) — it's my walk with my Savior and my God.
