Master Creator
Julia Bettencourt
Here we are and it's fall again. Where I live in California, it is just beginning to cool off from the summer heat. Some of the trees are just beginning to loose a few leaves but eventually the fall weather will be here and the leaves will turn to their beauty and fall completely from the trees. Fall is one of the most glorious times of the year. It's filled with the chill of the air in sharp contradiction to the vibrating warmth of the colors of the leaves, making it just breathtaking. It leaves one just in awe of the how wonderful God is and how so perfect each of His creations are.
As I look at the fall leaves, I think about how beautiful and vibrant a creation of God those are and I wonder how beautiful and vibrant I am. I trust I'm always at my peek of color and beauty for Him. Thinking about how leaves change color can be such a lesson to us. Did you know that the yellow to orange pigments are there inside the leaf the whole time but we only see them in the fall because they are masked by so much green pigment? During the summer the growth of the tree is making food inside cells in the leaves, which contain chlorophyll, which gives the leaf its green color.
In the fall the chlorophyll breaks down because of certain elements, which cause the other pigments to break out, and we see what becomes our beautiful fall leaves. There are three basic elements that affect that chlorophyll breaking down. Those are temperature, light, and water. During the fall the temperature drops having an effect. The days are shorter so there is less sunlight, and there is less water because of the rain level.
Pondering all this set me to thinking how that is so how we are as Christians. When we are sailing along without any problems we stay green and in the comfortable zone, but if it weren't for the little less sunlight of a few bumps in the road in the way of trials, a few cold days of heartaches, and a little less water when we feel we can't handle the burdens, then all of a sudden we become beautiful as a Christian. All that food or Word of God we've stored in our cells will make us stronger. God uses all those bumps, heartaches, and burdens to bring out our color and brilliance so that we can be beautiful for Him. He is the Master Creator. He knows what He is doing.
But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me,
I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10
And we know that all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
When we get back to realizing that God is the Master Creator and begin taking in how awesome and powerful He is, just like we take in the beauty of the fall, it will cause us to be a little more vibrant in our color. Perhaps a little more vibrant in witnessing, reading our Bibles, our prayer life. God knows us in such a personal way. He knows each situation, each thing that becomes important for us, and each thing that we have weighing on our heart. He knows every one of our joys, burdens, and sorrows. We forget sometimes that He gives us our color in only ways that He can. We sometimes in a sense forget that He is God.
Be still, and know that I am God... Psalm 46:10
So, how vibrant is your color?
Copyright ©2001-2007 Julia Bettencourt
Scripture References are from the King James Version.
www.juliabettencourt.comDevotional Index 
