The first day of fall with not much change in the actual weather across most states. In fact, to acknowledge the new season I visited the beach which was a refreshing change. The sand, warm air and sunshine gave no clue that a new season was here. Much like our lives, the seasons can change without outward confirmation.
Sometimes God begins a new season in our lives, but there is no immediate evidence that anything has changed. The circumstances may look the same. The environment may look the same. We may wake up the next morning and still have the same questions, the same responsibilities, and perhaps even some of the same struggles. Yet something has shifted. A new season has begun.
We often expect change to be obvious. We look for the leaves to change colors, the temperature to drop, or the landscape to look different before we acknowledge that fall has arrived. In much the same way, we sometimes expect God to give us a visible sign before we believe that He is doing something new in our lives. We want to see the door open before we believe He is preparing us to walk through it. We want the answer before we trust the process. We want the evidence before we embrace the promise.
But what if the beginning of a new season is not always visible?
What if God is doing something beneath the surface? Can you wait to see the outward evidence of the inward change?
Fall reminds us that change does not always happen overnight. The trees do not suddenly become bare. There is a process. The leaves begin to change gradually, and eventually, what once looked full and green becomes a beautiful display of color. Then, in time, the leaves let go.
There is something powerful about the leaves letting go.
They do not fight the season.
They do not hold on to the branches simply because that is where they have always been.
They release.
Perhaps there are things in our lives that we are being asked to release so that we can enter the next season with freedom. Sometimes we hold on to relationships, disappointments, mistakes, old expectations, past versions of ourselves, or plans that no longer fit where God is leading us. We can become so comfortable with what has been that we are afraid to make room for what is coming.
But letting go does not mean that what we experienced was meaningless.
It means that its season may have been completed.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” There are seasons of planting, seasons of growth, seasons of waiting, seasons of pruning, and seasons of harvest. There are also seasons when God calls us to release what we cannot carry into the next chapter.
Fall is a reminder that letting go can be beautiful.
The trees lose their leaves, yet they are not dying forever. They are preparing.
The branches may look empty for a while, but beneath the surface, something is still happening.
And perhaps that is where someone reading this finds themselves today.
You may feel like everything has been stripped away. You may look around and wonder why the things you once depended on are no longer there. You may be experiencing a season that feels quiet, uncertain, or unfamiliar.
But do not assume that nothing is happening simply because you cannot see it.
There are seasons when God works quietly.
There are seasons when He develops us before He reveals what He has prepared for us.
There are seasons when the roots are growing deeper while the branches appear bare.
A tree does not become less valuable because it enters a season without leaves. In the same way, your life is not less valuable because you are experiencing a season that does not look like the one you imagined.
Do not mistake preparation for abandonment.
Do not mistake silence for absence.
Do not mistake waiting for rejection.
God can be working in places you cannot yet see.
Fall also reminds us that change can be beautiful, even when it is uncomfortable. The colors of autumn are created through a process of change. What was once green becomes gold, orange, red, and brown. The landscape changes, but there is beauty in the transition.
Maybe there is beauty in your transition too.
Maybe this season is teaching you patience.
Maybe it is teaching you trust.
Maybe it is teaching you to stop trying to control every outcome.
Maybe God is strengthening your faith and reminding you that your future does not depend entirely on your ability to figure everything out.
Sometimes we spend so much time mourning what is changing that we miss what God is creating.
The leaves falling from the trees may look like loss, but the tree understands something we often forget: there is another season coming.
Winter will come, but winter will not last forever.
And after winter, spring will come.
New growth will come.
Flowers will bloom again.
Life will emerge again.
That is the hope of seasons—they remind us that what we are experiencing right now is not the entirety of our story.
Reminder- “Your current season is not your final destination”.
If you are in a season of transition, take courage. If you are in a season of waiting, keep trusting. If you are in a season of releasing, let go. If you are in a season of preparation, allow God to prepare you.
I am learning that you do not have to understand every part of the process to trust the One who holds the process.
Isaiah 43:19 says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Sometimes the new thing does not look new at first.
Sometimes it begins quietly.
Sometimes it begins with a closed door.
Sometimes it begins with a change of heart.
Sometimes it begins with a willingness to release what we have been holding too tightly.
And sometimes it begins with simply believing that there is still hope.
So as fall begins, perhaps we should pause and ask ourselves:
What is God asking me to release?
What is He asking me to trust?
What is He preparing me for?
What new thing might be growing beneath the surface of my life?
The beach on that first day of fall may not have looked like fall. The weather may not have changed. The sand, sunshine, and warm air may have suggested that summer was still present.
But the calendar said something different.
A new season has arrived and I am ready!!
Are you???
Blessings,
Dr.G
