We took a few days to get away, going to New Hampshire to enjoy the beauty and comfort we always find in being there.

The weather was beautiful and the fall foliage stunning. We marveled each day in the sights we noticed – the way the fog lifts off the mountains surrounding our hotel, the cloud formations each day, and the quaintness of the town which is always sweet.

Taking a scenic tour ride on an old train brought a few hours of historical information along with more beautiful views as the train chugged along the mountain into the valley. The echoing whistle, sounding to tell of the train’s approach to a road crossing, was a peaceful sound.

Our conversation centered around the way travel had been in years gone by. Our fellow passengers were friendly and conversation flowed as we were companions in this journey.

At one point we commented that the leaves were really beginning to drop now, definitely falling at a faster pace, blanketing the ground of the mountain hills.

Pulling into our driveway a few days later, my eyes were quickly drawn to the trees on our own property. The maple tree had very few leaves as most had fallen in just the few days we were gone.

It was the one elm tree which had my attention as it always does each year for its leaves, while having turned brown, were still holding on. This one tree keeps its brown leaves usually until the spring when the new leaves gently push out the old leaves.

I stood in the driveway for a few minutes, my thoughts filled with the wonder of it all as this verse came to mind:

“Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, AMP)

The death and resurrection of Christ not only brings us relationship with Christ, it creates us anew.

Our old way of living, thinking, reacting and responding falls off as we let His life grow in us. His life pushes out our old life, until all that is seen is the new.

This is not a matter of “turning over a new leaf” for the work of regeneration creates an entirely new creation. It means we have been changed and will continue to change.

“The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let the dead things go.”
– Anonymous

Every spring and fall this amazing process occurs right before my eyes, reminding me of this truth …

The old life is gone;
a new life has begun!

Today I am joining … Woman to Woman and Recharge Wednesday .