Winter Beauty

I shuffled through a pile of leaves on my walk today, enjoying the fact that they were still around.  But as I was walking past the big, beautiful tree I wrote about a few weeks, ago, I realized the sidewalk was clear of it's leaves.  I don't know if they blew away or someone swept them away, but it made me a little sad that they were gone.  I looked up at it's bare branches silhouetted against the sky and caught my breath at it's awesome beauty even in winter.  All the bright, showy leaves are gone but what's left is a different kind of beauty.  Both grace and mystery have been revealed in the lines and twists of it's branches.  God made it to be beautiful in all seasons - just like us.  We age and we change, but there is a beauty revealed in the lines on our faces, the wisdom in our eyes, and, hopefully, a peace that shines through from our hearts as we go through the winter of our lives.  Today, I found God - again - in the awesome winter beauty of that glorious tree.