I remember learning about photosynthesis in science classes during my elementary school years. Perhaps you do, too. I even remember walking outside and picking up leaves so we could laminate them and learn about their processes.
If we tap back into those lessons we had when we were younger, we’ll likely remember that in the spring and summer, trees gather energy and grow through photosynthesis, and that makes their leaves green. When we get to the autumn months and see those glorious changes take place, the leaves are not exactly turning red, orange, yellow, or brown. In a lot of ways, they are being revealed to be these colors because trees stop their photosynthesis process — the very process that makes those leaves green — and we are left with the vibrant colors we see each year.
I was driving through my town and admiring these changes as they are beginning where I live. And I had a strange thought that probably connects less to trees themselves and more to us.
Here’s what I wondered: When those trees sense, in their own way, that the hours of sunlight are becoming fewer, and they stop that photosynthesis process, revealing those colors, do they have any sense of sudden anxiety or panic that they’ve stopped producing?
Is that jolting for them?
Do they suddenly wonder who they are now that they are not producing? Or do they rest into this process quite easily, allowing their colors to emerge and be revealed, almost as if they are showing us their truest selves?
Obviously, I am anthropomorphizing to the max here, but I know that we often feel these kinds of feelings when we get into those rhythms of working hard and then stop our rhythms of making, working, and creating.
Sometimes, we have a jolt of anxiety. We wonder who we are, as if we are ultimately that output, that work.
What if instead we have something intrinsic about us? Something beautiful? Something that shines whether we produce or not? Whether we work hard or not? Whether we keep going or take a break? Or whether enter a season where we do considerably less?
What if we can be revealed?
