This is a meditation that focuses on the message we can find in the skeleton of a poplar leaf, I used it in my church last week during our monthly prayer meeting.
As the autumn leaves fall and decay we begin to sense the year passing away, the nights noticeably lengthening and a certain sense of things dying.
When we look at the poplar leaf we see that translucent quality that this time of year is known for. The thin web of veins that remain now that the leaf has lain dead for a full year offers a particular beauty which may give us a sense of the great web that links all life together, that great web that is woven by God Himself and whose beauty we glimpse within this intricate patterning.
If we can find a leaf like this to hold in our hands we will notice its fragile delicacy. Perhaps this might give us a sense of the fragility of life itself, for we ourselves are like this leaf and, as Jesus describes the wildflowers…..‘here today, and gone tomorrow..’
As we hold the leaf we take time to look at the veins revealed that previously were hidden from our eyes. We see the secret veins in the leaf that was once green and opaque. Just so does God hold us in his hands and sees into and through us as others cannot see. And what He sees He loves.
Take time to reflect on the deep, abiding, unconditional love with which God views our true essence. The true essence of ourselves which grows the stronger for allowing in His love and which will remain when all else has faded.
As we hold the leaf in our hands we know that God holds us. And in His hands we are safe.
If we hold up our leaf to the light, perhaps the light from a window or towards the light of a candle, its translucent quality becomes even more obvious. We can remember as we do this that in recognizing God’s love for our inmost being we can allow His Light to fill us. As the candle light passes through the leaf; so too does God’s Light move through us to be reflected into the world.
Relax in the knowledge that God sees and loves what He sees in you, and that in softening to His love you may become a transmitter of His Light even on dark and shortening days.
Amen.