A Process Of Grafting

Outside my kitchen window is a crepe myrtle tree.
It brings a smile to my face the moment it begins to bud.
I look out each morning as I am at the sink to note its progress.
The quiet, invisible process that is going on beneath the surface.

The blossoms of this particular crepe myrtle are pink.
When the blossoms are in full bloom, the boughs are heavy laden.
The landscaper that takes care of things each spring, had to prune it back.
Some of the lower limbs were bowing down over the walkway.

The tree has grown over the years.
It provides a wonderful privacy screen as we eat dinner on the deck.
I have grown to love that tree.
When the blossoms begin to finally fall, it is as if pink snow has covered the grass.

The crepe myrtle has never had a bird’s nest in its branches.
Perhaps the tree is too close to the house.
Perhaps the whimsical shape of the branches fails to provide enough cover.
It has been a tree on which a bird will land and take a rest, but never build a home.

This winter has taken its toll on my plants.
It wasn’t the snow as much as the cold that damaged so many trees.
It was just too cold.
Many plants and shrubs have suffered windburn.

There is no turning the clock back.
There is no returning to this past December and beginning again.
There is just moving forward after assessing the damage.
Now that everything is blooming, I can see that the damage is great.

Crepe myrtle trees usually begin to bud around the end of May.
Because of our brutal winter, everything is about 2-3 weeks behind schedule.
My eight foot tree that should be showing signs of green is simply brown.
I have been watching each limb every day for signs of growth.

There has been no growth.
Until a few days ago.

I few days ago, I saw it.
Buds on only one branch.
Buds coming from the bottom of the tree.
The tree is alive.

The top may look dead but the roots are alive.
I don’t know what the tree will look like.
Do we cut need to cut away the branches that are brown and dead?
Do we leave the one branch that is budding?

I tried to picture in my mind’s eye the image of the pruned tree.
How can an eight foot tall tree be reduced to just one branch?
One upright branch, with new growth all around the base of the trunk.
It will be a very unsightly tree; for a while.

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you provided that you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree! (Romans 11:17-24)

Grafting is a technique that horticulturists use to improve their stock of fruit and flowers.
A weaker, cultivated branch is grafted onto a wild, sturdy root stock.
When Paul wrote the letter to the Romans he said that God was doing something different.
God grafted the wild branches (Gentiles) onto the cultivated roots (Jews).

I look out my kitchen window and see the one branch that is budding.
The branch is budding from the roots, up.
It reminds me of God’s grafting.
Grafting Gentiles with Jews; one Church, one people.

Budding, blossoming from the Root, up.
The quiet, invisible process that is going on beneath the surface.
Wild branches and sturdy branches grafted together to reinvigorate the Tree.

The Master Gardener knows what He is doing.
The tree may be unsightly at first; but there is vitality at the Roots.
Life comes from the Root.