An Easter Devotion by Shelly Cichowlas
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:31
Last winter, Kate and I were helping to clean up the hall after coffee hour when we stepped out the back door to shake the crumbs off one of the tablecloths. As we were about to go back inside, Kate pointed to a branch on one of the bare trees behind the church, “Look Grandma, there’s two leaves left on that branch!” she proclaimed excitedly.
Everywhere we went that day, the topic of those two leaves would slip into our conversation. “Why didn’t they fall off the tree like the rest of the leaves?” “What will happen if they never fall off?” “Will it hurt the tree if they just refuse to fall?” It was an innocent line of questioning that seemed to swing from concern for the tree’s wellbeing to admiration for the bravery of the two leaves. I even entertained the thought of likening it to the story of Doubting Thomas- did I really know the leaves could stay up there based on everything I know about leaves? They always fall down eventually, right? Short of shimmying up the tree to see what miraculous powers helped the leaves to stay put, we were left to our weekly observations of leaf surveillance.
Eventually, the week came when the leaves were no longer hanging and I remember feeling a twinge of sadness thinking that they were probably just ordinary like the rest of the leaves- just late bloomers. Then I thought back to Kate’s curiousness and my doubt that they were a couple of leaves with super powers defying Mother Nature. I smiled as I realized she will likely grow into a new phase of questions next year that are less sci-fi fantasy and more discovery channel fact-based- until her own grandchild asks her a question about two magical leaves on a tree outside their coffee hour hall. And if I’m lucky, I’ll be watching down from heaven on the branch outside Edwards Church.
Loving God, thank you for the miracle of seeing the beauty and wonder of creation through the eyes of your children. And may the conversation allow us to see that the extraordinary is in what we choose to believe and not always what is seen. Amen