Cuttings from a Small Garden 3

CUTTINGS FROM A SMALL GARDEN by Pauline Standen

3.         The little willow tree.

It was the same spring in which the frogs got evicted from their hole.  One day, as I was walking past Woolworths, I looked in the window and saw a sight that filled me with longing.  Lined up in front of the pay desk was a row of the most exquisite little trees I had ever seen.  It was a breed of miniature willow I had not seen before, with the grand name of Salix Integra Hakuro-Nishiki, or Flamingo Willow.  They were formed into standard bushes, like feathery mops, ready planted in patio pots, and I wanted one.  The problem was they cost £14.99 each, and being very short of money at that time I just did not have that much.  Also, I had walked into town and it wouldn’t have been possible to carry one of these beauties home on the bus.

I walked sadly away and round to the shelves where all the other plants were.  If I couldn’t have my heart’s desire, maybe there was something else I could afford as compensation.  And there I came upon one of these trees, standing in a corner in the sorriest state imaginable.  It was just a bare-rooted stick, no pot, no leaves, and what branches it had were all pale and broken and bundled into a plastic bag.  Price £9.99.  I counted the money in my purse – only just enough for the tree and the bus fare home.  To have it would cost me all I had.  I considered for a while if it was wise and if it was worth it, and then took the poor broken specimen and my empty purse home.

I soaked the roots in a bucket of water, prepared a place in the best spot in the garden, planted and staked it and then prayed over it.  I was rewarded with new branches and leaves that same summer, and when the leaves fell in the winter I was delighted to find that its little whippy branches had turned a beautiful red colour.

This little tree is my absolute joy and delight.  I can hardly take my eyes off it, whatever the season.  It doesn’t do anything exciting, but just stands there.  If it could think, I imagine it might look at the other plants, like the rose with its lovely perfume or the flamboyant clematis romping over everything with its big blousy flowers, and wish it could be like that.  But the fact is that it doesn’t have to do anything more to make me love it than just be what it is.

I am sure this is how God sees us.  He gave everything he had in his son Jesus to buy us when we were poor, broken, dried up and tied up, neglected and rejected.  He soaked us in the water of his love, planted us in his Body, and delights over every sign of life and progress.  We don’t have to be like anyone else or do anything spectacular to win his love.  He is besotted with us – can’t take his eyes off us whatever “season” we are in.  It is true that some of his plantings have their moment of sensational display, but the little trees that steadfastly stand are his special delight.

It has been pouring with rain as I sit by the window writing this, glancing up occasionally to gaze at my darling little willow.  Its beautiful head of bare red branches is covered with raindrops that sparkle like strings of diamonds.  What a treasure.

• “But be glad and rejoice for ever in what I will create.  For I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.  I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people……”  (Isaiah 65:18-19a)
• “You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride: you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace”  (Song of Songs 4:9)