The sky was sketched cobalt blue this morning, almost purple. Father Sky didn’t draw any clouds till mid morning. A breeze pinged the wind chimes composing a yard symphony with the songbirds singing solos. The doves were walking around bobbin their heads and I immediately heard the “Bar bar bar bar Barbara Ann” of the Beach Boys singing with the doves’ heads bobbing in time with the music. The sunset was perfectly beautiful as Mother Nature emptied her crystal flute of pink champagne all across the horizon ending the day with wondrous pale diamond pink tint of color. A glorious Sunday on the porch.

I was reading this afternoon, searching for what type of tree was used to make the cross Jesus carried and was crucified on and I kept running across the legend of the dogwood tree. In Biblical times the dogwood tree stood as tall and sturdy as the mighty oaks. Known to be the strongest tree in the forest, the dogwood was chosen to be used as the timber for the cross on which Jesus was crucified. After the resurrection Jesus proclaimed the dogwood tree would remain slender and twisted, unable to be used as a cross for execution, and the dogwoods’ cross shaped blooms would have nail-like marking at the tips of each petal. The dogwoods yielded to God growing small and twisted but so beautiful in the fall when their leaves turn and so glorious in the spring when they bloom.

The trees in my neighborhood haven’t put on their fall party clothes or their dancing costumes of purples and yellows and reds and oranges. I’m afraid the heat and lack of rain has affected their coloring. Trees are so important to our world and work so hard shading us, filtering the air and water, providing homes to the birds and squirrels, dropping seeds reforesting the land, giving us fruit and nuts, and wood to heat our homes.

In Psalm1:3 we read, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” I think we can use trees to describe our spiritual life. When our faith is rooted deeply with God we stand tall and strong, less likely to be toppled by the storm winds that blow through our lives. God’s love and our prayers of thanksgiving are branches of faith that hold us up during life’s struggles.

We have to fertilize our Christian roots through scripture reading, praying, and following God’s commandments. Without care our faith will not yield any fruit and will wither on the vine. The root of our Christian faith is found in Mark 12:30, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

The deeper our spiritual roots are the stronger we’ll stand when we experience times of trouble in our lives. “The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun,” Napoleon Hill. Jeremiah 17:8 says, “Blessed are those who trust in the lord…for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

God encourages us to grow our faith with deep roots and to sow our seeds of faith with others. Our trees of life stand tall with God’s blessings and with God’s grace we flourish and spread our canopy of faith through our words and deeds.

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.” — Kahlil Gabran