November 28, 2025 // Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 21:29-33
Reflect on the Word //
The wind had stripped the trees overnight. I stepped outside into the crisp Minnesota air and crunched over a layer of amber and gold. Just last week, the maples blazed with color. Now their branches stretched bare against a pale sky.
Autumn always feels abrupt here, one moment a vibrant celebration, the next a quiet letting go. It looked like everything was ending. But I knew the truth: The trees weren’t dying. They were preparing.
That image stayed with me as I read Jesus' words: “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near” (Luke 21:29–30).
Jesus invites us to notice the signs. Not just the spectacular ones, but the slow, sacred rhythms of His Kingdom. The trees know how to wait. They know how to trust the process. “Know that the Kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:31). Even when everything looks still, something holy is unfolding.
The Kingdom is not far off. It is close, present, hidden in the quiet changes. We do not have to see full bloom to believe growth is happening.
Then He says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Luke 21:33). What comfort to know that His Word is our constant. Seasons will shift. Leaves will fall. But the promises of God remain.
We, too, experience these autumnal moments, times of letting go, quieting down, preparing for what we cannot yet see. But we are not forgotten. We are being formed.
So we watch. We wait. We remain rooted. Because even in the letting go, the Kingdom is near.
Relate to the Lord // Where is Jesus inviting you to let go?
Rose Coleman is an elementary school teacher with a heart for pilgrimage. She traveled the globe on a ship during college and spent some years in the convent as a religious sister. She was a contributing author to All She Had, Blessed Conversations: Rooted, and our children’s devotional prayer book called Rise Up. Find out more about her here.
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