The truth in a leaf…

Have you ever really looked at a leaf? This is the perfect season to do it! Not only are the leaves of fall gorgeous, but they can be lessons in truth!

The shape and color, the way the leaf feels in your hand, its delicate veins and the stem that once held it fast to the branch of a tree-all of these qualities reveal a leaf to be a miniature work of natural art.

And looking at it more deeply, we can find that it is one small but essential part of a system that harnesses the energy of the sun, plumbs the depths of the earth, and in the process brings into being the oxygen that many living things rely on to live.

That leaf transforms the elements of its environment-sunlight, carbon dioxide, rain- into nourishment for its tree. This light-weight, fragile piece of nature is a vital conduit to the branch that is a conduit to the trunk that is a conduit to the roots of the tree.

One of the many blessings that nature offers us is a clear demonstration of the interdependence between all living things. Each living being is dependent upon other living things for its survival.

Earth is home to a web of living things that are connected to each other through an amazing array of relationships.

We need the other living things on this planet to survive and thrive.

We need each other to survive and thrive.

A leaf…such a small thing to remind us of such a significant Truth!