It isn’t all that big just yet. At least, not nearly as big as it will get in time. But already towering above the roof of the house, our very own “NZ Christmas Tree” is quite a pretty sight just now. Although we are currently having “the summer that didn’t happen” and the coldest one on record, these Pohutukawa trees have been flowering prolifically and for quite some time almost everywhere. Some have already dropped their red stamens, creating a dense scarlet carpet all around them. Before that the ground was a bright golden yellow from the fallen Kowhai blossoms. Now when it rains, little streams of red run along the gutters and into the drains. I wonder what colour carpet we will have next. My roses are a mass of blossom so maybe pink and white will be Mother Nature’s next redecorating decision.

I just happened to be reading from a little book of “scriptural reflections of promise and hope” written by James R. Welter who happened to point out how the image of a garden symbolizes an intimate relationship with God. This is what he has to say:

The story of our relationship with God begins and ends in a garden! It begins in the book of Genesis with the story of creation. We are given a beautiful image of God, who “comes down” and walks in the garden with Adam. It reveals to us the intimate relationship God has with his creation, and it is a precursor to God “coming down” in human form to be one with us.

So it isn’t surprising to see Jesus spend his last night talking with his Father in a garden. And it is fitting, too, that Mary Magdalene first encounters the Risen Lord in a garden.

So does that offer you a new perspective on being outside among the plants? I will have to ponder that as I go pull the weeds that have grown mightily this “summer that didn’t happen”.

Postscript:
There is a little war going on within the workings of Judah’s Journal just at present. If you are viewing with IE as your browser, you may find the conflict causes part of the image here to be obscured. Viewing in Mozilla Firefox instead will probably solve that for you. Hopefully my kind and clever friend, Visiblesoul, might have it fixed for me very soon.

Yes he has! Thankies DKC.