"the Lord God made every tree grow
that is pleasant to the sight"
Genesis 2:9
My mom said something sad to me the other day. We were standing in her driveway saying goodbye after I dropped off some folding chairs I had borrowed. As I hugged her goodbye, I looked off into the distance behind her, and saw a jacaranda tree ~ the first one I’ve noticed this spring. I love jacaranda trees. They have beautiful purple blossoms, and when several are planted together, they are a stunning sight every spring. Sort of like the cherry blossoms in Washington DC. Jacaranda trees live quite happily in our area of the country, so there are lots of them.
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| from Wikipedia |
They are a little bit controversial, however. After those beautiful purple blossoms have given us all they have to give, they fall from the tree. The resulting purple carpet is beautiful in its own way, but when they fall on sidewalks, they can be tricky to walk on. So some people complain to their city council that the trees are a menace; others praise their beautiful blossoms, and insist a little sweeping is a small price to pay.
I’m in the latter group. I love the look of them, and think it’s worth it to put up with the small nuisance that they can be every spring. I guess I figure the risk of someone actually slipping on them is small. And I think nature in all its forms, is lovely. {Okay, I guess there are a few bugs I would exclude from that “lovely” category….}
So Mom and I were in her driveway, and I saw a jacaranda tree behind her, and I said, “oh, that jacaranda tree is so pretty.” And her reply was so hard for me to hear. I’m sure, that when I share it with you, you’ll feel my pain.
She said, “I think jacaranda season is nearly over.”
I know, right?? Just awful…. Awful to think that the jacaranda season is nearly over, and I somehow missed them this year. I just never really noticed any. It might have been that I’m busy, but really, I don’t think I’m any busier than any other spring. And when I’m in my car, I never feel busy. I love my car and I love my sunroof, and I love driving. So I tend to be very aware of birds and flowers and trees as I drive.
So I think the explanation is simply that the jacaranda season this year was short. That happens sometimes. A few years ago, we got practically no apples on our apple tree, and everyone we talked to was having the same problem with their fruit trees. It just wasn’t a good year for fruit. So maybe this year wasn’t a good year for jacaranda. But long or short, this year’s jacaranda season is almost gone, and there won’t be another one for a year.
That feels like such a loss. Someone once said, “Even if you live to be 100, you’ll only experience the first day of spring 100 times.” That really struck me. Sometimes I think things like, You only get one sunset a day… so I hate days when I miss seeing the sunset.
I think it makes me more appreciative to realize that the oriole I just saw is a rarity in my neck of the woods, or that my kids aren’t going to be living with me forever, or that a shooting star is only visible for a millisecond. I feel grateful to Him for the beauty He has given us on earth. He didn’t have to. He could have provided us with oxygen without trees. What purposes do butterflies serve? Why did He decide flowers should exist at all?
Because He's God. Because He loves beauty. Because He loves us.
Hope you're enjoying the season you're in, wherever you are!
~ "beautiful trees... palm trees....
leafy trees and willows...
rejoice before the Lord your God!" ~
Leviticus 23:40
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