Lessons from the Magnolia Tree

There was a magnolia tree in the back yard of the house next door to the one in which I grew up.  My mother has a picture of her holding me on the day I was baptized in April 1961 with one of the neighbors under that magnolia – fairly small at that time, but so was I! All of the important issues – where acts of faith and witness were needed – first came into my life in the community around the magnolia tree.  It was faith taken from the pews of the church and put into action. Faith called upon in times of illness, war, hunger, disaster, personal challenges, and so much more.  Faith which made celebrations more joyful and loss easier to bear.

No matter what time of the year, you could look out the windows on the side of our house and see signs of life in the magnolia tree – from the birds that roosted there to the evergreen leaves. The smell of those large sweet scented flowers filled the air around our house when they were in bloom and when they were not blooming, you could see those hairy flower bulbs which are borne at the tips of the twigs and know that they would blossom again.

There are many stories I could tell of how our community around that tree cared for one another.  But each one centers on strong faith put into action – sort of like the trunk of the magnolia tree – standing firm, deeply rooted in the teachings of Jesus and an ever-present faith in God.  A faith that has been passed on from generation to generation.  But without the outstreched branches that tree couldn’t show life – there would be no evergreen leaves or flowers, no birds singing.  Faith cannot stand by itself.  Like the branches of the magnolia, it is when the faith reaches out in service to others that it blossoms.  Remember that the magnolia flower is at the very tip of the twigs on the branches.

The lessons I learned from around the magnolia tree were about an active, living faith.  For as James wrote, “You do well when you really fulfill the royal law found in scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8 CEB). It is the type of faith that John Wesley described when he said, “Faith hath not its being from works, (for it is before them,) but its perfection.” 

That faith from around the magnolia tree showed its beautiful blossoms mightily over the last few days as my mother fell, had surgery to repair her broken hip, and is now settling into rehab.  Connections from the community around that tree and every place the branches are now reaching showered us with prayer, visits, calls, and messages.  I have experienced our United Methodist connection, in particular, at its finest from messages saying mom was lifted in prayer in churches across the Virginia Conference on Sunday to United Methodists around the globe letting us know of their concern and thoughts. And for mom, how blessed can you be when your first bite of nourishment in more than 24 hours comes by way of your pastor bringing the gifts of the Eucharist.  Thank you all for your expressions of care and concern…and for reminding us of what it truly means to be love your neighbor as yourself.