The fallen leaves!

There trees drop leaves regularly! The new leaves replace the old. I noticed a tree bereft of all its leaves. A Bulbul was perched in one of its branches. 

The leaves on the ground and some ducks strolling under the shadow of the trees, amidst the fallen leaves! The leaves would be gathered for the compost later in the day. 

Three thoughts passed through my mind. 

All growing trees shed leaves and the new ones also would fall off. The leaves are not permanent. A tree symbolises loss and gain in life.

The leaves return to the earth to nourish the soil and support the trees. A tree seems to loose; but it gains through it  losses. It is when a child looses the temporary tooth the child receives the permanent teeth. 

Sometimes a tree or a branch might loose all leaves as in the third photo. The Bulbul groomed its body and stayed on sunbathing on a bare branch! The branch became its flight station for the bird. All birds use the bare branches for their flight stations. It is for night the shelter at night or during rain the birds need branches with foliage.    

The falling leaves suggest that a tree is living and growing!

How paradoxical is to consider that there is a loss associated with growing. A child looses some infantile habits when he or she becomes a toddler. or a pre-schooler. A child by two years looses the need to be carried as he is independently mobile. 

I like how this loss and gain in life is described by the writer, St Paul in I corinthians chapter 13, verse: 'When I was a child I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason as a child, when I became a mani did away with childish things'.

As an adult have I lost my childish habits and acquired adult practices? The same author in the book of Ephesians 4:29 described an adult behaviour: 'Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear'.  Another version of this theme is presented by the same author in Colossians 4:6, ' Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person'. In a third context, the same author in Titus 2:8, describes the manner of speech to be:'sound in speech, which is beyond reproach in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having noting bad to say about us'!

I do come across this as a calling for adults who desire relationships and respect mutuality. For this to be real, such a manner of speaking ought to replace what remains as the appendage of earlier patterns. 

It is here, the truth of a loss, becoming a means of gain becomes an experience!

The leaves do fall which is good for a tree so that new leaves can sprout. It is good for adults to leave behind practices that belonged to our childhood or adolescent seasons and pursue after what is wholesome of ran adult. 

I witnessed such an adulthood behaviour of soberness and measured response, when there was a tense moment in the parking place in front of shop. A scooterist blocked by parking in the centre and car diver was struggling to park. The security guard requested the scooterist to park on the side, which agitated him.  The driver of the car waited till this man returned after his purchase. The security guard when complimented the patience of the car driver, he said: 'the scooterist was agitated, why disturb him more'! Seeing this and hearing the conversation, I knew that the gentleman behaved like a responsible adult mindful of the stressful behaviour of the scooterist. The scooterist came to the car driver to apologise for the inconvenience. That was an example of a loss bringing a gain- the restrained behaviour of the security guard and the car driver facilitated a change in the attitude of the scooter rider. 

Our losses can have some gain for ourselves or others.  

Growing up involves changing according to the state of consciousness we acquire in upbuilding relationships as adults!

M.C.Mathew(text and Photo)