~ An old and beautiful legend ~ ~~Author Unknown~~
At the Creation, God made the dogwood tree tall and strong, equal to the mighty oaks which grew alongside it. The dogwood was a proud tree - it raised its head above the others in the forest - and its wood was world-renowned and used to build strong ships, magnificent palaces, and great bridges. So strong and firm was the dogwood's wood, in fact, that the Romans used it as the timbers for the crosses on which they crucified criminals.
When the Lord was sentenced to death, a dogwood was chosen for His cross. The tree became so distressed that its mighty limbs quivered and its leaves shed in mourning. So deep was the dogwood's sorrow that Jesus took pity on it and made a promise.
"Because of your compassion for me, mighty dogwood, never again shall your kind grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth your trunk shall be slender, your branches bent and twisted.
"Each spring your blossoms will form the shape of a cross with two long and two short petals. They shall be as pure in color as ivory, but on the outer edge of each petal there will be stains of my blood. The center of your flowers will be a crown of thorns - so that all who see it will remember it was upon a dogwood tree that I was crucified, and this tree shall not be mutilated nor destroyed but cherished and protected as a reminder of my agony and death upon the cross."
Now, the dogwood blossoms serve each spring as a beautiful and poignant reminder of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the Creation, God made the dogwood tree tall and strong, equal to the mighty oaks which grew alongside it. The dogwood was a proud tree - it raised its head above the others in the forest - and its wood was world-renowned and used to build strong ships, magnificent palaces, and great bridges. So strong and firm was the dogwood's wood, in fact, that the Romans used it as the timbers for the crosses on which they crucified criminals.
When the Lord was sentenced to death, a dogwood was chosen for His cross. The tree became so distressed that its mighty limbs quivered and its leaves shed in mourning. So deep was the dogwood's sorrow that Jesus took pity on it and made a promise.
"Because of your compassion for me, mighty dogwood, never again shall your kind grow large enough to be used for a cross. Henceforth your trunk shall be slender, your branches bent and twisted.
"Each spring your blossoms will form the shape of a cross with two long and two short petals. They shall be as pure in color as ivory, but on the outer edge of each petal there will be stains of my blood. The center of your flowers will be a crown of thorns - so that all who see it will remember it was upon a dogwood tree that I was crucified, and this tree shall not be mutilated nor destroyed but cherished and protected as a reminder of my agony and death upon the cross." Now, the dogwood blossoms serve each spring as a beautiful and poignant reminder of the glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Photos from photobucket.com
16 comments:
Beautiful post and reminder of what it's ALL about. Praise God for Jesus and the ability to shout it from the house top and tell all those we touch.
Praising God indeed!
What a beautiful post and a wonderul reminder for this week!
Wonderful post! I love dogwood trees. They are so beautiful - wish I had one.
That was a neat post! It puts me in the right mindset for the week.
Those dogwood tree is beautiful!
Yes, very beautiful post. And I didnt know that about the dogwood, wow. Thanks for sharing.Pictures are so pretty.
I've never heard that before~ thanks for sharing! Great post.
I haven't ever heard that story--what a neat one! Thanks for posting it for us all!
Awesome! I love legends like that.
My grandparents had dogwood trees at their farm and I always thought they were so beautiful. What an awesome story to add more beauty to it. I will think of this every time I see one. Thanks!
I love Dogwood trees! they are sooo beautiful.
I love this story...I hadn't read it in a long time. Thank you for sharing it again.
Blessings to you.
:-) Susan
What a beautiful story. Thanks for posting!
I have never heard that before, very interesting post! I love, love, love dogwoods! I think they are so beautiful and now they have even a more special meaning!
Thanks for sharing that!
Hey Leigh Ann
I'll never look at the Dogwood tree without thinking of this. Would you mind if was totally unoriginal and stole your post? The Dogwood is our Provincial flower and I love it..they're SO pretty! I haven't been by for awhile... hope everyone is well.
Heather
lol, Heather - it is not my story to steal. I found the story in the Ideals Easter book. So feel free!! The pictures I found were at photobucket.com and I just searched for dogwoods.
Thanks for 'checking in' on us!!
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