A Million Leaves

The ancients wondered how many angels could stand on the head of a pin.  Perhaps, thet were more mystical, or more connected to the eternal than this old guy who meanders around the farm seeing things never really seen before.  I do not wonder about angels on a pin, but I have found myself wondering how many leaves are on one of these hundred year old pecan trees which stand as timely landmarks of the passing generations.  As I watched leaves floating in the air today, I figured there must be a million, no, maybe two million.  Who knows, maybe ten million?  And how would you count if you could and who would want to spend any time counting leaves on a pecan tree anyway?   

There is this new part of me that wonders and considers things never before really noticed.  I am not losing any sleep over this uncountable fall event, but as you might note, I have wondered.  I wonder a lot.  Maybe too much.  There is so much around me these days which has always been out there, but I have never paid any attention to it.  And, more importantly, I am also aware that a lot of what is out there, if not all of it, is filled with holy mystery.  

There is nothing out there, or up there which has not been touched by the Creator's hand.  In some way it bears the imprint of that holy hand which put it in its place to fill some ordered purpose in this complex Creation which comes alive in a new way with the coming of each sunrise.  Of course, the creation does not really come to life with the rising sun, it is as much alive in the deep darkness of the night as it is in the bright sunlight.  Much like we are.  In the moments of joy, in the moments when the vigor of life is full within us, and when all seems to be going somewhere, it seems that we are much alive.  And while this is true, it is also true that we are just as alive when the heaviness of the darkness of despair settles upon us.  Even then God is blessing and giving life.