The Dogwood

This morning, when I let Lucy out, I noticed how many flowers my dogwoods have this year. I'm sure that is due to the mild winter we had.
The trees should be in full bloom for Easter Sunday.


Several years after we moved into our house, Lou came home with 2 small dogwood trees as a gift for me. That was over 35 years ago. My Mom had planted 2 or 3 dogwood trees in the backyard of the house where I grew up and I always knew I would want one in the garden of my home. On my wedding day the trees were in full bloom and photos were taken of the bridesmaids and the bride, posed in front of the large white flowering trees.


It is fitting that the dogwood trees will be flowering fully for Easter.


I found the dogwood story on http://www.care2.com

The story goes that when Jesus was awaiting crucifixion and when the crosses were being made the trees begged God to spare them, but the Dogwood begged not for it's life but for the life of Jesus.

The Roman soldiers picked the Dogwood.

The Dogwood pleaded with God to use another wood but God did not intervene. The Dogwood would now carry the body of Christ to his death and the Dogwood knew that for all eternity Dogwoods would be known for this horror.

God in his wisdom spoke to the Dogwood and understood the tree; in that time Dogwoods were tall straight trees that provided sturdy timber for homes and vessels, safety for the animals. bowls for food, utensils to cook with; and God spoke.

God told the Dogwood that the burden that was carried would be carried only one time, and from that time on Dogwoods would be knarly small trees with poor timber size so not Dogwood could be used in this manner again, God told the Dogwood that the Dogwoods would now be responsible for eternity to help people remember.

The Dogwood would only bloom for a very short time before and after the date of the crucifixion, the flower would have just 4 petals representing the hands and feet of Christ, they would be marked with a hole and the blood of Christ and the center of the flower would be circular raised and represent the head of Christ wearing the crown of thorns.

And so it is today, the Dogwood is a small twisted tree, it blooms at Easter and the flower....well look for yourself.