Abscission
Autumn is here, and many of us are gearing up for our pumpkin-spiced everything, wardrobe changes to flannel and fleece, and cozy blanket cuddles as we prepare to enter into moderate dormancy after all the Summer fun and excitement.
I joke with my friends that Autumn is my Spirit Season.
As I look out my window, I see the leaves already beginning to fall (wait - that's why they call it Fall? I literally just realized that) as nature begins to prepare as well.
In addition to the aforementioned aha moment, I came across a new word today - Abscission.
No, this is not a new procedure to finally rid ourselves of that unwanted belly fat, though that would be nice.
Abscission is the process of cutting something off through separation or removal.
It's a process beautifully orchestrated in nature this time of year when we watch the leaves transform into a stunning array of autumnal hues before gracefully falling to the ground.
Of course, there is a divine purpose for all of this beyond our viewing pleasure.
God protects the trees through the conservation work of abscission.
There is a lot of fascinating info about trees' chemical and hormonal characteristics and how they naturally change with the seasons.
For our time together today, I found some things we can apply to our journeys as we prepare for the season ahead.
I am no arborist, but let me see if I can give the process of abscission a proper summary.
The trees conserve their energy through resorption, where they stop putting so much energy into the leaves and instead keep it stored deep within.
Trees even create a protective layer at the bottom of the leaves by forming cork cells that literally cut off the nutritional flow (They are called cork cells because they look like cork bark, not as a reference to wine. I checked.).
In the same way, trees stop sending the moisture out to the leaves. This water conservation allows the trees to preserve moisture in the trunk and roots to keep them alive during winter and to avoid - wait for it - burnout.
The lack of energy and water causes the leaves to dry up, turn colors and eventually fall to the ground.
In addition to the benefit of energy conservation, losing the leaves helps the trees withstand the upcoming winter storms so the wind can blow through the branches more easily, preventing significant damage.
Trees understand that to survive and thrive, they need to protect their power and cut off energy and attention to the things that will not serve them in the coming season.
I don't know about you, but when I do even the slightest investigation into how nature works, I become more enamored with God.
God designed every living thing with innate abilities to survive and protect themselves to withstand the harshness of life here on this Earth.
So what about us?
How can we apply the concept of abscission to thrive in these wonderful lives we have been given?
Who or what are we giving our power and energy to that needs to be dropped?
Who or what is burning us out to the point we have no energy for ourselves or anything else?
To say it crudely, who or what is sucking the life out of us?
It's time to get our power and energy back, my friends.
It is time to adhere to God's protective design for our lives and shed the things that are not and will not serve us now or ever.
God's ready to help us with this process.
My guess is, since Autumn IS the spirit season, He is already starting the abscissing as we speak.
God is with us always and forever.
Isaiah 43: 18-19
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Ephesians 4: 31-32
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.