TREE’S
When moving onto a piece of property, one of the biggest surprises is your first spring. Living in an area that has seasons, spring is the most revealing. Moving onto a property that had been unimproved left room for nature itself. Many blues, yellows, whites and even green of every shade appeared on our acreage profusely. One of the things that drew us to this particular property was the winter creek that ran through it.
Needless to say, when we began to improve the property for habitation, the winter creek was rerouted and we never saw it again. The blue star thistles were awful and needed to be removed of which some always remained. However, the tree’s and the grasses were plentiful and kept us in awe.
When we purchased our home in the city, again when spring rolled around we were thrilled with the rows of lilac tree’s that lined our back fence. Marigolds popped up everywhere, along with a variety of roses that filled the entry of our driveway. It was exciting to see the nature that was left behind by the previous owners. We had a huge flowerless mulberry tree in the back and several maple trees in the side yard that were on fire every fall. In the front was a masterful Sequoia Tree that was almost 45 ft high.
Where we live now, gave us no surprises our first fall, winter and or spring. It was an older home but not much attention had been paid to the yard, front or back. We had one ugly tree in the front and 4 beautiful trees in the back. But then we really didn’t know if they were beautiful or not. One tree had to go because the tiny plums were very messy. Another berry tree still remains because during the winter when it is covered with snow the red berries pop out and couldn’t be more beautiful and festive.
The tree that can be seen from the dining room window didn’t do much the first couple of years but the 3rd or 4th year it blossomed. Oh my, was that exciting! Bright golden yellow blooms filled the tree. They hung all over the tree about 4 to 10 inches in length. Jim took picture after picture of our ‘Golden chain Tree’! When the blooms were done and blew away what remained looked like the stems after the grapes had been eaten. The tree no longer held such beauty, but was sort of bare and stark as winter sat in with all these little bare stems still hanging on the tree. These stems remain until it blossoms again!
No matter how we try, we could never create anything as beautiful as a flowering tree. No matter how much we know about cultivating, we never can plant anything so magnificent as a massive tree. No matter where we live, God’s beauty can outshine all of our landscaping with just one of His beautiful trees. I know man has cultivated tree’s but God still grows them!
We are often amazed at the fruitfulness of God’s earth. "The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon which he planted, in them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees"; Psalms 104:16-17 I have heard that some roots are the same length as the tree is above the ground. Not all trees are like that, because you can see the roots spread out above the ground.
Even though we can recognize a tree by its fruits or it’s blossoms we also know that we can recognize a bad tree. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits! Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?" Matthew 7:15-16 Jesus is giving us a way to test false prophets.
Jesus further explains; "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits". Are you known? By Jane Ann Crenshaw 6/1/09
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