I’m looking up at the autumn sky
Feeling the sting of chilly winds blow
Thinking about my life, wond’ring why
Happiness just seems so long ago
I’m wishing for flowers with fragrance sweet
Springtime brought fresh growth and leaves so new
I see my hopes now dashed at my feet
Now fallen, and colorless, lifeless too
I’m kicking the ground and fallen leaves
When something catches my aimless eye:
An acorn--no beauty I perceive.
Yet, every oak tree began this way:
The process of death and letting go
And dropping its treasures in the earth
Thus spreading those messengers of hope.
Through dying the acorn finds new birth.
Life has its seasons we all pass through;
They do not know hurry or delay,
We must endure loss and suff’ring too.
God gives and He sometimes takes away
But only removes the branch that’s dead,
And He never fails the trusting soul.
Yes, something that’s better lies ahead
For what God refines, he will make whole.
(Jennita Ruud, 2025)
“As surely as the oak is in the acorn, so surely is the gift of God in His promise. If we receive the promise, we have the gift.” (Education, p. 253.3)
