Wesley United Methodist Church

Announcements

• A visit from Johnny Appleseed

  Monday Musings

  I love trees. When I moved into my house five years ago, I began planting trees on the lawn in front of the house bordering Highway 169. The first summer, two friends brought over five white pine trees from their property and helped me plant them. They were each about two feet tall. Unfortunately, only one remains but it now stands close to five feet. The next summer, I planted two tamaracks, today one is eight feet and the other close to 13 feet. Since then, I have planted spruce and Norway pine, and they are all beginning to thrive. Last summer I was given a gift card to a local greenhouse, so I purchased a crabapple and a Haralson apple tree. This spring they were covered with blooms and are already showing signs of bearing some fruit.

  I purchased the crabapple tree because I remember when my dad retired in the mid-1990s he was given a crabapple tree by some of his students. He planted the tree not far from the kitchen window but since I lived out of state, I never paid too much attention. That all changed when I moved home in 2013 and started spending a lot of time with my parents. That small sapling had grown into a tree of close to 30 feet tall. I remember gathering up the small fleshy apples for my mother so she could make crabapple jelly. I loved the jelly’s beautiful pink color and loved it even more spread over a toasted slice of homemade bread. My parents have passed and yet the tree remains still bearing fruit. No one in my family gathers the apples for jelly but the deer and birds love them probably more than we did.

  In many ways, our life with Christ is not unlike a crabapple tree. When we gather with community members at Sunday liturgies and tend to our spiritual lives through both prayer and action, our faith grows and produces fruit. Furthermore, just like the crabapple tree in my parent’s yard continues to bear fruit long after their passing, our faith bears fruit in the life of the church as well as in the lives of those we show love and compassion long after our passing. My prayer this week is that we tend to our faith life with intention so it can bear fruit for us today and for others long after we find rest elsewhere.