December's Sky

by Paul Hettinga

Every December sky must lose its faith in leaves; And dream of the spring inside the trees; How heavy the empty heart How light the heart that's full. Sometimes, I have to trust what I can't know…

And so starts Beth Nielsen Chapman’s song “Every December Sky”. It’s a metaphor about death and life, reminding us that in letting go we die to the past giving us the hope of springing forth into new life.

It’s a message that I love in concept but resist in my daily life. I find myself clinging to the old leaves as they continue to wither and die hoping for just a little more, a little longer or thinking that if I just hang on a little longer, it will get better. It isn’t easy to let go for sure! It also isn’t easy to dream of the spring inside the trees when it’s dark, cold, lonely or depressing or even when things are okay, but just not very good.

As the song goes…”Sometimes I have to trust what I can’t know…” It strikes me how little of my life really is turned on trust – relying much more on my intellect, my creativity, my resources, and on my old habits of thinking and doing. Have I lived the last 50 or so of my adult years or instead have I lived 1 year 50 times over? How about my marriage – 42 years or 1 year repeated 42 times? I am learning that I trust most that which I’ve already done, or thought, or believed or previously felt. I trust least in ‘…what I can’t know…”

The cycle of the seasons could teach us much about the nature of our own lives. Nothing is forever and in fact the truth is that too many of our lives are spent in boredom, perhaps because of our fear of letting go, of imagining what could be if only we could let go of that which is actually dying – just not yet.

Take a minute today to ask yourself as I have asked myself; what things do I need to let go of to become all that our creator and Lord imagines us to be?

God isn’t interested in the past of our lives. In fact, I think God can’t even remember it, but we do, and we cling to it, and for too many of us, we die with it both figuratively and finally. Sound a little heavy? Perhaps. But, if you’re at all like me, I pray that we can both have a memory loss for all that plagues us, weighs us down and keeps us from becoming the ‘spring inside the tree’s’ that Beth sings about and that God hopes for us.

Take a minute to watch this You Tube video of “Every December Sky” by Beth Nielsen Chapman and let the message of letting go bring the hope of new life within you.