Reaching

If you’ve visited this blog for any length of time (there are a number of you, you know who you are and I appreciate you very much), you’ll know I have an affinity for “lonely tree” photographs – a picture showing a single tree within a landscape. They’re not easy to come by. First, you have to find one all by itself, then hope that time of day, location and weather coordinate to allow a compelling composition.

I passed St. Mary’s Cemetery while driving through Dekalb, Illinois last evening as the sun was setting. This single tree stood at its center, keeping watch over ancient headstones and monuments. Its branches reached toward heaven, as if on behalf of the souls lying beneath it – a single link between earth and the realms beyond.

The Bible often refers to the cross of Jesus Christ as a tree, and the imagery of a tree as an instrument of both salvation and judgment flows through its pages.

Every so often, I get a visual reminder.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2007 James Jordan.