Happy Spring! This writing Arlene Lockwood forwarded to me months ago,
but I wanted to save it as an Easter week story. I don't know if the pine trees always
"do their thing" at Easter time, depending on when Easter comes or where we
are geographically. No matter. It will change how I think when I next see the new
shoots of a pine tree:
The Pine Tree Crosses
Last April on a Sunday we took one of our "nowhere" drives, my husband
was quietly driving a back road. I was occupied in the front passenger
seat watching the scenery.
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my husband was straining to
look out my window. This startled me, since his eyes should be on the
road in front of him. I asked him what he was looking at out the
windows, and he quietly replied, "Nothing." His eyes went back to the
road in front of him.
After a few minutes, I looked over at my husband and noticed a tear
running down his cheek. I asked him what was wrong. This time he told
me, "I was just thinking about Pop and a story he had once told me." Of
course, because it had to do with his Pop I wanted to know the story, so
I asked him to share it with me.
He said, "When I was about eight years old, Pop and I were out fishing and
that's when he told me that the Pine trees know when it is Easter."
I had no idea what he meant by that, so I pressed him for more
information.
He continued on... "The Pine trees start their new growth in the weeks
before Easter -- if you look at the tops of the Pine trees two weeks
before, you will see the yellow shoots. As the days get closer to Easter
Sunday, the tallest shoot will branch off and form a cross. By the time
Easter Sunday comes around, you will see that most of the Pine trees
will have small yellow crosses on all of the tallest shoots."
I turned to look out the window and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was
a week before Easter, and you could see all of the trees with the tall
yellow shoots stretching to Heaven.
The tallest ones shone in the sunlight like rows of tiny golden crosses.