Leaves that Cling

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      I know a tree that does not want to let go of its leaves. Even late in December, this post oak tree has every leaf that was produced in the spring. Maybe a few leaves have been dislodged from the tight grasp of the bonded relationship of the stipule and the leaf sheath but these are few and scant throughout the tree. Mostly, and I mean majorly, the 125-year-old 50-foot tall post oak has every leaf it enjoyed over the summer.
      I am not sure why the leaves stay on this tree so long. Maybe the tree is timid and wants to hang on to what it has always had without voluntarily relinquishing a single leaf for fear of coming up empty. Is the post oak a timid tree with insecurities? Does the post oak have trust issues: believing that if the leaves fall off in the autumn there will be no new leaves in the spring? Does the post oak believe that “what is, is all that will ever be, and there is no hope or dream of anything else in the future”? Does the post oak lack faith in a purpose, a process, and a vision that is greater than itself? Is “fear” the true lord of the post oak tree?
      If any of the above scenarios is accurate, I feel sorry for the post oak and pray that this fearful and gripping tree will find the courage to let loose just a little, to relax the grasp in order to see the sun begin to rise from low in the south sky as the days of winter subside. I pray for healing from this sort of tight-fisted fear.
      Of course, the tree could be innocent and actually trying to get rid of the leaves. On the other hand, the leaf itself could be the clingy culprit, holding on for dear life to the leaf sheath at the lateral bud for fear of the fall, or the uncontrolled breeze, or the lack of community that is sure to result from leaving the only world that it has always known. Maybe it is the leaf that has a fatalistic grip on the tree and will not let go of the sense of security that has bonded this relationship. I have witnessed this type of behavior in other areas of society and culture, where usually symbiotic relationships are formed and both parties benefit. However, these relationships are always changing, evolving, becoming more trusting and empowering until distance is no longer synonymous with desertion.
      Maybe the post oak leaf is actually so insecure and immature in its relationship with the tree that it believes, ignoring the dead and brown reality of its existence, that it is actually better off posing as a cipher on the tree than revealing and reveling in the real plight of its existence as a purposeful fallen leaf. Somewhere, in the training of post oak leaves, these leaves forget that leaves leave.
      Clingy and grasping relationships, fatalistic as they may surely be, are false realities that end in March winds when the tight and insecure grip can no longer be maintained. Surely, the leaf must fall.
Birds must fly from the nest, children must become the true mix of a mother and father (different and unique from both) by leaving home and embracing life, ripe tomatoes must be eaten, ripe peppers must be made into hot sauce, and yearling pigs must become country ham, sausage, and bacon. This is the way life works.
      People in the pew must become servants outside of the pews; Sunday students need to, sooner or later, graduate from Sunday School; children’s church lessons must not be assumed to be sufficient for adults and should become fully mature theology of the living Jesus Christ for a world with mature and broken issues; and the church needs to cease being the place where we come to cling onto security but, instead, must be the place where we courageously let go into the servant ministry of Jesus Christ.
      Finally, in the spring, when the post oak tree is using resources and juices to bring about new leaves, the yearling leaves finally and surely lose their grip and fall. No leaf of the post oak hangs on for two years. All leaves must fall.
      Trust in the Lord, O ye clingy leaves. Jesus catches and holds all things that fall.

Rev. Dan Martin is pastor of First UMC, Hendersonville. He can be reached at moose1953@hotmail.com