Collecting leaves in the Kingdom

This afternoon, my kids and I collected Fall leaves from the yard around the house and pressed them between pieces of wax paper with a hot iron (well, I did the hot iron part). As we laid the leaves out on the paper, we talked about how much God must really like color and shapes. It's quite amazing when you see all those hues and fractal-like edges scattered before you.

Afterwards, as I contemplated our art projects hanging in the sunlit window, I was caught off guard by a tightening in my chest. This, I realized, is a glimpse of the Kingdom--so rich in variety and beauty, always changing, breathtaking when you pay attention. And my heart clenched with longing. I want to breathe and walk in a beauty like this, one made up of the living-and-walking-together of those eternally-varied and wonderous souls who follow Jesus. It is far too rare in this space of my life. But God is good. Even as I long, he brings me tastes and scents of His Kingdom, one that saturates this world, even dripping through the color and hues of fallen leaves.

(Images: mine)