I'm not a fan of bucket lists - but I do have a mental list of moments or scenes I hope to capture with my camera one day, and a falling leaf is one of them.
It would appear that I could scratch that capturing off my list, but these photos are deceptive.
Difficult to see, the leaf had apparently been snagged by the thin line that anchored a spider web to the ground, and as the leaf twirled in the breeze, it appeared to be falling from one of the deciduous sweet gum trees in my back yard.
Eventually, a strong gust of wind freed the leaf from the spider's spinning - ending my falling leaf photography session.
As is often true about what I see in nature, an analogy began to take shape as I captured the leaf spinning in the wind - like the cypress trees that circle our pond and are the first to sprout new growth in the spring is a picture to me of the trees planted by a stream of water in Psalm 1.
This falling leaf reminds me of friends - good friends - who appeared to be happily married, but were apparently only caught up and hanging on by a thin thread that was easily broken. And their marriage tumbled.
I think of other friends - close friends - who appeared to have an unwavering faith, but when God didn't answer their prayers the way they thought He should, the fragility of what they had been clinging to was revealed. Their beliefs cracked open were washed away in grief, and my friends wandered from Truth.
I think of me - when I'm self-assured and looking good, but clinging to my own abilities and strength. Is it any wonder when I fall flat on my face?
Be careful what you cling to these photos tell me. You might look pretty twirling in the breeze, but when the inevitable gusts come around, you'll wish you'd been standing on the rock.
And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock..." ~ Exodus 33.21
They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. ~ Psalm 78.35
