Friend, let’s contemplate fall. Fall’s colors remove a shroud and reveal hidden glory. What veiled glories will God reveal to you and in you?
First, some personal history. For the past eighteen years, the West has been home. It is my treasured birthplace and Via’s chosen adopted abode. Still, for the prior thirty years, God gave us a home among the Southeast’s multi-hued fall grandeur and – here I must pile up adjectives – its redolent floral spring exuberance.
Such spring and fall triumphs are now muted – fond memories.
But here, fall after God-given fall, we have mostly brilliant yellow and evergreen green – with a few splashes of orange among humble bushes and a few unusual aspen. Not much? Not so! Here simplicity bespeaks and magnifies beauty.
Casting our eyes along roadside rivers, well-hydrated deciduous leviathans display their fall golden yellow – adding wonder to the river’s gun-metal hue and the vast expanse of Cerulean blue sky.
But up in the mountains, Fall, we delight to discover your awaited royal golden yellow – ASPEN! – especially along the forest edge – or in secluded pockets, here and there. Suddenly, Fall you transform timid isolation into strikingly bold expression. Glowing aspen, you beguile us by your luminous virtuosity. No yellow compares with your sun-drenched, stunning-yellow. Great Emancipator God, you stashed improbable glory in aspen! Who would have guessed? Hallelujah!
Note: aspens mean “young forest.” These white-with-random-splashes-of-black barked beauties make way for shade-tolerant evergreens which eventually choke-out their vibrant hosts.
But, until that final day, Fall, aspens radiantly answer your call to reflect the sun’s splendor. Creator God, these bewilderingly spectacular martyrs bear witness to your uncommon/common grace.
One October, so I could preach at Covenant Presbyterian in Lander, Wyoming, Via and I traveled six hundred miles from presbytery in Kalispell, Montana, to Lander. Such windshield time reinvigorated our souls! Stretches around Polebridge, Seeley-Swan, Big Sky, Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Dubois took our breath away. Marvelous!
And there is more.
While other trees perform photosynthesis through leaves, aspens’ thin white bark allows sunlight to pass through to the chlorophyll containing cortex. Thus, aspens thrive in tough snowy conditions when other trees remain dormant.
Also during winter, sugar in the aspen’s bark sustains wildlife – deer, elk and rabbit. What a lifeline!
And, here we pause for a story. When Via and I first moved to Helena, we lived in town. Eight years later when our youngest graduated from high school, we found a fixer-upper-with-a- view halfway up a small mountain. We named our new home Starfall.
As we prepared to move, I took some aspens I’d planted at our in-town home and transplanted them to a grassy meadow at the base of Starfall’s hill. I bucketed water so they would survive.
And they did – until one morning I discovered deer had eaten them off at ground level. Ouch!
Later that summer when everything else turned brown, the meadow where I planted the aspens remained green. Reader, most likely you have connected the dots. This was our septic field! God knew we didn’t need aspens and their extensive root system there! So, he sent deer to overcome my ignorance.
Friend, perhaps you can identify. In your naivete, you rejoiced in something. Then God uprooted or cut it down. You mourned. But, at last you understood God meant such pruning or more for good, and you rejoice in God’s wise Providence!
Now, more about aspens. Surprisingly, aspen roots sprout to produce a genetically identical replica of the mother aspen tree. An entire clump of aspen trees can be a single tree’s clone. Thus, all leaves in the clump synchronize with each season. Reportedly, an aspen clone in Utah spread over 100 acres. Such interconnected aspen root structures make aspens one of the largest organisms on earth.
Such physical fullness prompts another spiritual analogy: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the Gentiles will rally to him.” (Isaiah 11:9, 10) Jesus, Root of Jesse, you are the “firstborn among many.” (Romans 8:29) Reduplicating your magnified LIFE, whole people groups reunite in you.
Consequently, Jesus, you declared: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
Once more, back to aspens. Individual aspens can live 150 years. Groupings of aspens are some of the oldest living organisms on earth.
And to the aged trusting God, Scripture gives honor/hope:. “The righteous flourish like the…tree…They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” (Psalm 92: 12-15)
One final word. “Aspen” comes from Old English “aespe,” “shaking tree.” Growing up, I heard this tale: Embarrassed aspen leaves perpetually shook at the slightest hint of wind because – somehow – most improbably/incredibly – aspen wood composed Jesus’ cross.
Aspen lovers, notwithstanding shady legends, ponder Jesus’ cross. There we find a compelling connection. Holy Spirit, your Wind moves our hearts. Embarrassed by our sin, we shake. Then, most improbably/incredibly, despite crucifixion brutality, we witness the Son’s deep compassion followed by his incandescent resurrection splendor. Many bask in his shine.
Friends, as aspens reveal hidden fall glory, unexpected faith transforms astonished sinners. Formerly tarnished outlaws interiorize/showcase/reflect Redeemer God’s brilliant love/truth stashed in Christ! Jesus tells Son-drenched new creations: “You are the light of the world!” (Matthew 5:13) “The ultimate experience of life is knowing God.” (Billy Graham) Who would have guessed? Hallelujah!
