Until today, I knew it only as “Fringe Tree.” I now know it also as “Grandfather Gray Beard,” “Snow Drop,” “Old Man’s Beard” and “Snow Flower;” but no name does its beauty justice. It finished blooming this week, but I think of a wedding and white and lace and dancing and flowers and fragrance and all things lovely when I remember it in bloom — hundreds of perfumed clusters of feathery white flowers dangling from the tips of its branches and swaying in the slightest breeze. It all but engulfed me while I marveled, and I resisted a sudden urge to twirl joyfully right then and there. Thinking back on that moment, I wonder why I resisted.
The 3-week scripture memorization challenge I signed up for began this morning with the beautiful words of Genesis 1:27-28. It was the next verse, however, that jumped off the page. I’d been thinking of this recent shot for days when I read:
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.”
— Genesis 1:29
Every tree. This tree. I dove into learning about Chioanthus virginicus, a member of the olive family. Its Greek scientific name “Chioanthus” combines the English “snow” and “flower.” A female tree (ours) bears olive-like, edible fruits; and each fruit typically contains one seed (which fruit-eating birds often disperse). Elliptical-shaped green leaves turn yellow in Autumn, young bark is smooth gray while old bark is furrowed, and the tree blooms on old wood. I really like knowing all this; but most of all, I like dwelling on God giving us every tree. This tree — a gift! A joyful twirl is in order; and this time, I’m not resisting.
