Summer is finally here. Never can I remember a summer so longed for, after such a long and brutal winter. Spring was swallowed in blizzards and even the dawning of the summer solstice had yet to boast a week of warm days. Now that summer has settled in, I keep fighting the feeling its slipping away already.

My husband bought a bird feeder for our backyard this year, and we love watching out the window as a variety of birds come to dine throughout the day. The feeder is a reminder to stop and look, to enjoy the many things that come alive during summer (except mosquitoes of course). Birds singing, trees whistling, flowers blooming, kids playing, water splashing, baseballs cracking…

A few weeks ago I was looking at a beautiful, leafy green tree – the kind of tree that sends a home’s value out of our price range. It’s branches hung heavy with beautiful, symmetrical green leaves, casting a perfect shadow underneath. But emerging from the top was a singular dead branch, crawling with pointy twigs devoid of cover. I’d never seen anything like it – how could a tree so full of life carry in it something that was clearly dead?

Ever since I saw the dead branch, I’ve been seeing them everywhere! Driving through town, I spot trees lining the sidewalks boasting bright foliage, and yet a dead branch emerges. Perhaps the late spring blizzards affected the buds, or perhaps the trees are signaling that some day they will die, just like all of us.

Each tree shows signs of decay and signs of renewal.

Isn’t that what it means to be alive in this intersection of a decaying world and a bursting Kingdom?

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.

Isaiah 51:6

All around us we see signs of decay and signs of renewal. I went to a bachelorette party last weekend for a beloved friend who is getting married – something new and beautiful being birthed into this world. Days later my uncle passed away. Weddings, funerals, baby showers, climate change, leafy springs, dead twigs, and vines ripe with tomatoes. We walk in a time where both realities ring true.

Our bodies are decaying, yet daily regenerating and healing. Trees die, and new ones find ample nutrients to grow and flourish. How do we make sense of all of this?

This life shows flashes of beauty and perfection – how could it not, if the Creator is as majestic and magnificent as the Word says He is? But they wax and wane – a full moon never stays full.

I don’t know where Heaven is – I’m not sure if one day it will come down to this decaying planet we’ve been inhabiting for millennia or if it’s another place altogether. But I do know Earth in its present form will pass away – just like us. Nobody lives forever and the Word tells us our bodies will not go with us through death.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: 

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, 

and He will dwell with them. 

They will be His people, 

and God Himself will be with them as their God.

‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’

and there will be no more death 

or mourning or crying or pain, 

for the former things have passed away.”

And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

Revelation 21:1-7

Dead branches are not pleasing to the eye, but perhaps they could be a balm to the soul. A reminder that this is all passing away – the stuff that will die. And the leafy branches remind us that one day this will all be made new.