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Text on back: This weeping beech tree stands guard at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Wernersville. The tree’s tangled limbs reach low to the ground. It is large yet easily overlooked despite its size. But if you wander close, duck beneath its limbs, and enter the tree something changes and your heart may be touched. There is a sense of being protected and covered. The beauty of the sheltering tree is not minimized by scarred trunk or gnarled branches evidence of storms weathered and seasons endured. A strong core supports an abundance of foliage providing a covering for all who walk beneath its canopy.
Perhaps this grand old sentry is a metaphor for a life that offers itself for another. Pastors, mentors, spiritual directors, teachers, and even friends…we offer our lives in love. God touches others through lives that have been strengthened through healed wounds and seasons weathered. The sheltering life holds those entrusted to them that they might experience the One who provides life, redemption, and rest, the Master and Creator of all.
