When
I think of the fall season the one word that comes to my mind is beauty. As fall sets in we begin to experience cool
mornings and notice that the leaves on trees begin turning color. Have you ever wondered why and how leaves
change color? Why does a maple leaf turn bright red? Where do the yellows and oranges and browns come
from?
To
answer these questions we must remember that leaves are food factories. Plants take water from the ground through
their roots and receive carbon dioxide from the air. They use sunlight to turn the water and carbon
dioxide into glucose, which is a kind of sugar.
A chemical called chlorophyll helps make that happen and gives plants
their green color. As the days of fall
get shorter, trees shut down their food-making factories and live off the food
they have stored during the summer. When the green chlorophyll disappears it
leaves small amounts of yellow and orange, which unbeknown to us, have been in
the leaves all along. In maple trees
glucose is trapped in the leaves and the sunlight plus the cool nights cause
them to turn into a red color. The brown
color in the leaves of oak trees is made from wastes that are left in the
leaves. It is the combination of all
these things that make the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall.
When
we think of the beauty in the trees and the leaves we need to remember that all
this began with creation. “Then God said, ‘Let the land
produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit
with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing
seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according
to their kinds. And God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:13-14). The
Apostle Paul reminds us of God’s creative and sustaining power when he said, “For by him all things were
created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones
or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for
him. He is before all things, and in him
all things hold together”
(Colossians 1:16-17). What
a wonderful God we have who gives us this wonderful beauty all year long, but
particularly in the fall. With Solomon
of old we can affirm, "He has made everything
beautiful in its time”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11). I’m
so glad that God enjoys beauty and delights in sharing that beauty with you and
me.
