Magnolia Blossoms

We have a Southern Magnolia in our yard. When it was planted about 10 years ago, it was no taller than 3 feet. As you can see it must be 25 feet in height today. It was a mother’s day gift to my wife. She wanted one dearly.

Although the tree can be messy, dropping big, leather-like leaves and seed-pods, its blossoms are very beautiful and fragrant. The blossoms have several stages:
Buds, blossoms and seed pods.

Look at the images. Each stage is unique and beautiful in its own right.

But why should I think the blossoms to be beautiful? What makes a thing beautiful?

It seems everything should be beautiful. Everything created by God is “good” (Genesis ). Confucius recognized this too when he said, “Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

Kahilil Gibran said it this way, “When you reach the heart of life you shall find beauty in all things, even in the eyes that are blind to beauty.”

It seems to me there are 2 basic notions relative to the concept of “beauty,” each with a different shade of meaning. In one sense beauty refers to something’s appearance, its color, texture, symmetry and fragrance. It is used to suggest elegance, something that is fine, like art. It is the kind of beauty we often try to quantify. We develop criteria for it.











Another sense of the word focuses on the “good” of something, recognizing that something is beautiful when it performs well. In this sense, beauty is like a well designed machine, moving silently and effortlessly to accomplish a task deemed worthwhile.

It seems we often use the word in an interchangeable way, sometimes as if referring to art and sometimes in the sense of its performance. Both uses of "beauty" are a bit subjective, or as Margaret Hungerford has said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” So let me summarize here by quoting Jean Anouilh. She said, “Things are beautiful if you love them.”

Now to the heart of the matter. Scripture says, “How beautiful is the coming of messengers who bring good news.” The people we love are like that. We love them for who they are. And the lesson for us is (if we flip that statement around a bit) “Let the beauty you love be what you do” (Jalal ad Din Rumi).

So, why should I think magnolia blossoms are beautiful? Because my wife loves this tree. Because God made this tree to grow, blossom and to be fruitful. It grows in the south and enriches our lives and the lives of others, setting one wonderful region of America off from other wonderful regions, and to make one region distinct from other regions. It is beautiful because of what it does and what it is.

This week my wife and I celebrate 40 years of marriage. She is a woman of great beauty.

Scripture:
Genesis 1.31 – God was pleased with His creation.
Genesis 2.9 – God made all kinds of beautiful trees.
Genesis 29.17 – Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
Psalm 96.6 – Power and beauty fill His Temple.
Zechariah 9.17 – How beautiful is the land.
Romans 10.15 – How beautiful is the coming of messengers who bring good news.

Sculling at Midnight

I learned a lot over the July 4th holiday. It was special in many ways. It began on Friday evening, July 3rd when I went sailing with my son-in-law, Russ and granddaughter. It was a typical July day in Tennessee, warm and very little wind. So instead of sailing to where we could “raft-up” to other sailboats to watch a nearby fireworks display, we used a small, 2-horsepower outboard engine to get us from the marina to a cove where we could see the fireworks display.

The day was also special because the “sail” was Russ’ first with this boat. Since he acquired it, it had spent more than a year in his garage being restored. Russ can repair and restore anything. Much of this sailboat had been replaced with parts from other discarded sailboats and new paint applied, all with great diligence to exacting standards. His self-imposed deadline was this weekend. I think the family joke was: “Would it float?” Other sailboat owners seeing it at the marina on the water thought it was new. In fact, it was originally built in 1976.

The sailboat is quite small. It is a 16-foot Hutchins Compact. It is adorned with two sails, a main sail and a jib. The smaller sail is located in front of the main sail. I think the sailing community refers to this kind of boat as a “sloop.” The boat has one mast and a short keel. The craft has only a two-foot draft. Take a look at the attached image. It’s a neat little boat.

Around 7 pm, since there was little wind, we excitedly left the marina (see images), puttered away from the docks, went down the lake about 5 miles, tied up with fellow sailboat owners and watched the fireworks display. My granddaughter enjoyed holding the tiller and “fishing” along the way. Once we got to the area where we would watch the fireworks, we enjoyed soft-drinks, cracker-jacks and M&M snacks. We had a wonderful time. My granddaughter had a great time.

About 10:30 pm or so, after most of the fast powerboats and houseboats had left the cove, we cranked-up the auxiliary gasoline engine and began the trip back to mid-lake. For half the journey, it went well but then the engine died. Russ started it again. It puttered awhile and died again. This time for good. We were out of gasoline. The main sail and jib were up, but they were of little value. There was almost no wind and we were 2 ½ or 3 miles from the marina. When a little air moved, it was very light and variable in direction. We recalled lines from Gilligan’s Island about a three-hour tour.

The solution? Sculling! What is “sculling”? you ask. Sculling is when you move the rudder back and forth with the tiller. This action is akin to the tailfin of a fish, moving back and forth, giving the fish forward movement. It isn’t easy to scull a sailboat. But then again, the lake was very calm. I suppose it was calm in part because there was no wind. The moon was nearly full. The lake was stone silent. It was a beautiful night.

After awhile my granddaughter became very tired, even with all the junk food in her. She went “below” and quickly fell asleep. It then occurred to me that we would be at this quite awhile. Feeling a bit embarrassed, if not guilty I suppose, Russ never let me “scull.”

We had a lot of time to talk. I learned that the “port” side of a boat is like “port wine.” Port wine is red and the red sidelight is on the left side of a boat. The word “port” has only four letters, just like the word “left.” The other side is called the “starboard” side and has a green sidelight. For some reason or other there is a “white” light on the mast (called a mast light) and one placed at the stern or rear of the boat. The later is called a stern light. We talked about work and about life. We wondered why people do some of the silly things they do to complicate and mess up their lives. How can married people with wives and children maintain those relationships and carry-on additional romantic relationships at the same time? People get jealous and people get emotional. There are some that want life both ways. Recent news had us wondering about how illogical people can be. It’s apparent, “No good ever comes from these things.” Dishonesty and unfaithfulness are unholy.

I thought about Christ and the kind of life He led and desires for us to have. He went to sleep on a boat in the middle of a lake. I thought how the Sea of Galilee could be rough one moment and then as calm as glass. I thought about Jesus walking on the water and I thought about the Ancient Galilee Boat (also called the “Jesus Boat”) found by two boys in the mud on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, on the northwestern shore after a few years of drought in 1986. The boat was dated between 100 BCE and 70. In many ways it’s similar to the boat we were using in crossing the lake. Our sailboat was 16 feet long. The Ancient Galilee Boat was a bit longer at 26 feet. Obviously, neither is very large. The Galilee boat had one sail or so experts think. I saw the Ancient Galilee Boat a year or so ago (see image attached).

The lake, the night and the fact we were on our own (no 21st century motor) made several scriptures come alive. (See references below.)

I wondered too, if we would make it back to the marina by daybreak. I gave in to enjoying the moonlight reflecting off the lake, the adventure of being out-there marooned on the water and the story we would tell. I wondered if the disciples had to scull or row their boat. We had a couple of cell phone calls from our wives. We informed them of the situation. Nature is unpredictable we told them.

Eventually we made it back to the marina. It was a little after 2 am. Thanks to Russ’ sculling and a little wind. We got our things together, my granddaughter got to bed and I made it home. She is a real trooper. It was 3:30 am.

Lessons learned: No matter how gasoline-miserly the engine, it is better to carry twice the fuel you think you need. Be flexible, unexpected things happen. Learn and enjoy where you have been planted.

Matthew 14.22-33 – Jesus walked on the water to the disciple’s boat.
Mark 4.35-41 – Jesus fell asleep on a boat.
John 21.1-6 – The disciples fished all night before Jesus appeared.