Dancing Leaves

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and will give thanks to him in song."

Another gray, dreary day. Wind, rain, sleet, snow. Ah, the variety of ways the weather can dampen my spirits. The overcast skies rob the color from my world and I feel alone. Gray days feel like Mondays - days full of too much to do and too little time. Days with responsibilities crowding in and joy crowded out. Grey days.

Yet in the road are dancing leaves. Leaves swirling in circular patterns across the street. Dancing leaves, you dance in circles, going nowhere in particular. Don't you know today is bitter and cold? Don't you realize the wind is making your world an unfriendly place? Under gray skies and nasty weather, today is a day of overcoats pulled tight and hats pulled low.

Still you dance. Crusty brown leaves, winkled and lifeless, you dance. Yet this dance is not your own. Left to your own volition, you'd be sitting in the nearest compost pile. No, this dance of yours comes from a source completely other than your ring of swirling leaves. This dance of yours is a defiant one, a dance with laughs at the melancholy gray.

Dancing leaves, your defiance is contagious.

Spirit of the living God,
Surround my dreary world today
And set my feet to dancing.
The silent song of days gone gray,
A heart that's heavy laden,
Won't have the last, the final say.
I know a song of dancing leaves,
They swril and twirl despite the gray.
Spirit of the living God,
Set my feet to dancing.

By Debra Klingsporn, taken from "Women's Daily Devotional 2"