There is something about looking through the lens of my camera that allows me to connect differently with God than when I am sitting in a chair with a cup of coffee and the Bible on my lap. 

It had been several weeks since I spent time looking for hidden treasures waiting to be captured, so I grabbed my camera and headed out the door with images of pinecones as my intended subject matter.

Although my search for pinecones among the small trees proved unsuccessful, I began to take pictures in the field next to my house.  Several shots in and it really struck me — I was photographing the dying of nature — dried up leaves, trees, bushes, and there were no birds chirping.

I thought to myself, “why would anyone take pictures of dead things?”

Yet, I found such beauty every time I looked through the lens.  Beauty in the end of a season.

       

I looked up at the trees towering above our yard.  There has been a bird’s nest in this specific tree for years.  In the spring and summer we can hear the family that lives there and see the mother bird fly to the feeders on our property.  Yet, we can’t see the nest when the leaves are full grown.

When the seasons change, the leaves begin to thin, the hiding place is stripped away and everything has died off, you can see the home that has given this bird family refuge.

God met me in that moment of looking up at the empty nest and confirmed the unasked question of my heart, “Yes, it is the end of a season”.

My young-adult little birdies will leave our nest this year.  Oh, I am as proud as I can be of my kids; they are smart, funny and amazing in every way.

But as the end of a season I’ve known for 20 years draws closer, my heart aches.  Big, fat, hot tears began to stream down my face.  I sat on the steps out back and just let them fall.  Giving in to the moment to let my mommy heart grieve the passing of it’s time and usher in the heart of a mother with young adults that have need for a different kind of mother’s love. 

Through the tears, I looked down and saw a perfect acorn. A seed waiting to grow new life.

God reminded me there is always something new waiting for it’s own season. 

A new thing; A new season.

All of sudden I noticed acorns everywhere on the ground. New life just waiting to spring forth.

As I walked the perimeter of the field again, I finally found the pinecones—in the tallest trees. 

None of the younger trees had them, only the more mature trees—new life waiting to be planted and go through their own season of change.

Seeds waiting to be planted were found in the more mature trees.  These trees had already been through seasons upon seasons to get to the age where they are bearing full of new life; new season.

God has appointed seasons for our life.  There will be times of dying and there will be times for new life.

   

The new life can not come without the dying.

There is beauty in dying; new life ready to begin.

There is beauty in dying if we look and see God in it.