Faith, Folklore, and Friends

Our Christmas tree is lovely this year. It is well lighted and adorned with a variety of ornaments, some of them forty five years old.  It has been in the living room for a while, and it  hasn't shed one needle. It probably never will, because the people who made it used fine machines and glue and paint to construct it, giving it the general shape of a tree. The closest it ever came to a real tree was when it was in a box in the back of the truck, coming home from Hobby Lobby.  It smells like. . . nothing.  Back in the day, Christmas trees smelled like excitement, like company coming, like the most wonderful time of the year. As soon as our school dismissed for Christmas break, my lil' ole sister and I went to the woods in search of a Christmas tree. We ambled in woods not our own because we wanted to find something we hadn't seen before. A few times, it is possible we wandered onto government land, but it has been over fifty years and we don't fear prosec...

I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth's sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; Upon whose bosom snow has lain; Who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree. ~Joyce Kilmer, 1913

These photos of trees were made at various times, none of them recently. Just some old photos good enough to enjoy again. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9 Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. I Chronicles 16:33 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3 The trees of the LORD are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. There the birds make their nests; the stork has its home in the pine trees. Psalm 104:16-17 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. Ecclesiastes 2:5-6 Be not afraid, O wild animals, ...

I love strong oaks, maples in the fall, crabapples and redbud in the spring.  I love all trees; in fact, I have been called a tree-hugger more than once.  However, the strangest tree I've ever seen may be this: Mississippi Shoe Tree!