The Last Leaf Metaphor

Each morning when we open the curtains and sit down to breakfast we look out onto this scene:When we moved here and the trees were full of leaves, we never noticed it. But since the leaves all fell, we noticed this towel up in the tree behind our apartment. We thought it was funny, but that surely it would blow down soon. And yet, through all of the winds, freezing rain storms, and snow, it continues to hang there. Every single morning now, it is like a challenge... when we open the curtains, will it still be there? And sure enough... it is !
It reminds me of that story by O Henry called The Last Leaf. - Briefly the story goes like this: Two young women are roommates in London during a period when there was a huge pneumonia outbreak and one roommate contracted the disease. Each morning when her roommate would open the curtains, she would see the tree across the way and count how many leaves were left on the tree. She saw that each day there were fewer & fewer leaves and told her friend that she was sure it was like her life. That when the last leaf fell from the tree, she would die. Alarmed as such discouragement, the roommate went downstairs to tell their elderly neighbor how her roommate kept growing weaker and weaker and thought she would die when the last leaf fell. Several of the next few mornings when the roommate opened the curtains there was one leaf left and she couldn't understand it. Then came word that the elderly gentleman who lived downstairs had been out in the storm and contracted pneumonia and died. The next day the girl told her roommate that she felt that seeing that one lone leaf clinging to the tree was a sign from God that she too, should cling to her life and so she was determined to recover. When the family of the gentleman who lived downstairs came, they told the girl that they didn't know what happened.. that he had been healthy, but for some reason had been outside during the storm, up on a ladder, with his paints. (So, he had painted the last leaf onto the wall behind the tree so it would appear that the final leaf never fell.) So, we've decided that perhaps that towel- clinging to the tree- is a metaphor for our mission. We are going to try to cling to this work and work very hard in this area to spread the gospel here. And, who knows... perhaps when that towel falls, it will be time for us to go home as well. (please do not even think of the other option - that if the towel NEVER falls, we'll be here forever...) Still, it makes opening that curtain each morning a real ADVENTURE, and a great way to start the New Year with the resolution to work HARD as missionaries!