{"id":6329,"date":"2014-10-15T12:08:44","date_gmt":"2014-10-15T12:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/?p=6329"},"modified":"2014-12-28T03:07:13","modified_gmt":"2014-12-28T03:07:13","slug":"graces-from-gleditsia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/graces-from-gleditsia\/","title":{"rendered":"Graces from Gleditsia"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><figure id=\"attachment_7036\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7036\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/289\/2014\/10\/file0001362821445.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-7036 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/289\/2014\/10\/file0001362821445-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7036\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image morguefile.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>It was one of those perfect fall days when the clear cerulean sky contrasted the vivid reds and yellows of the maples, poplars, and the honey locust in my yard.<\/p>\n<p>Settling into this house in 1988 one of the first things I did on the property, after removing all the trash and debris, was add trees. It takes time for trees to fill in the landscape. So during the time of roof repairs, plumbing and furnace upgrades, and painting, the trees grew on.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually the time came to develop the gardens, and then a few decades later it was time to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2013\/06\/just-mow-it-down\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">tear them out<\/a>. Through it all, the trees remained.<\/p>\n<p>My favorite tree, now matured to over forty feet high, is the Skyline Honey Locust (<em>Gleditsia<\/em> <em>triacanthos<\/em> f. <em>inermis<\/em> \u2018Skycole\u2019). It\u2019s a thorn-less Locust variety (<em>inermis in <\/em>Latin means unarmed) and half the height of its native cousins.<\/p>\n<p>The dark gray limbs are sturdy through storms, flexing without shattering in gusting winds or heavy snows, and have a lovely curve to them\u2014an elegant feminine\u00a0line. It leafs out in the spring in a\u00a0neon chartreuse turning to a bright Kelly green by summer. Small pinnate leaves offer open dappled shade and raking is never an issue. This variety lacks seed pods. I\u2019ve never had issues with any diseases or pests warned about in the literature. I\u2019ve called it \u201cthat blessed tree\u201d\u2014for its shade, for its beauty, for its endurance.<\/p>\n<p>The other day I gathered my lunch and a rosary, and went to sit under its boughs to rest.<\/p>\n<p>The sky was clear and the sunlight crisp. A light and stirring breeze caused the poplar leaves to chatter and, as I walked under the locust, a cascade of shimmering yellow began to fall.<\/p>\n<p>Each small leaf reflected the sunlight as it fell. Bits of gold danced around me and I was elated by the tiny leaves that landed on my head and arms.<\/p>\n<p>I imagined the blessings of God to be much the same as those golden leaves\u2014small and cumulative, bearing light. We may not take as much notice of God\u2019s blessings when they come one by one. But looking back at all the mercies in life, the cascade of light is thrilling.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was one of those perfect fall days when the clear cerulean sky contrasted the vivid reds and yellows of the maples, poplars, and the honey locust in my yard. Settling into this house in 1988 one of the first things I did on the property, after removing all the trash and debris, was add [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1932,"featured_media":7036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[59,373,61,24,146,727,729,31,728,64],"class_list":["post-6329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith-and-gratitude","tag-autumn","tag-benedictine","tag-fruitless","tag-garden-prayer","tag-gardens","tag-gleditsia-triacanthos","tag-grace-from-god","tag-gratitude","tag-honey-locust","tag-nature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Graces from Gleditsia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was one of those perfect fall days when the clear cerulean sky contrasted the vivid reds and yellows of the maples, poplars, and the honey locust in my\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/graces-from-gleditsia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Graces from Gleditsia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was one of those perfect fall days when the clear cerulean sky contrasted the vivid reds and yellows of the maples, poplars, and the honey locust in my\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/prayergardens\/2014\/10\/graces-from-gleditsia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Morning Rose Prayer Gardens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/margaretrose.realy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-15T12:08:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-28T03:07:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/289\/2014\/10\/file0001362821445-1024x682.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Margaret Rose Realy, Obl. 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