Before these cottonwood leaves fall off, they turn a golden color
In autumn, the leaves of certain kinds of trees turn different colors and fall off. They are known as deciduous trees. Some of them are cottonwoods, elms, maples, oaks, and chestnuts. Other trees, such as spruce, juniper and pine, have needles instead of leaves, and they hang onto most of their needles all year long.
When it’s time for some trees to shed their leaves in the fall, what if they decided to hang onto those leaves? If they didn’t let them go, there might not be room for new ones to grow in the fall. In autumn, leaves are tired, and they’re ready to let go. They’re not meant to hang around year after year. They need to go so new, healthy leaves can show up in the spring.
I wonder what would happen if I decided to hang onto things instead of letting them go. Things like clothes I’ve outgrown. Blouses or shirts I’ve loved so much that they have holes in them. Socks so smelly and threadbare they really must be thrown away even if I love them too much to part with them.
There comes a time when, like trees with leaves, we must let go of things. It’s healthy to let them go. We can’t move forward successfully if we won’t let go when the time is right.
But how do we let go when there are so many happy memories attached to those things? Think of the trees and how naturally they let go of their leaves in the fall. Those colorful leaves fall everywhere, making piles to play in, and creating space for new leaves in the spring.
The next time you know it’s time to let go of something but you can’t make yourself part with it, think about the trees. They know when it’s time to let go, and they do it with ease and grace. We can learn a lot from trees.