Beauty Unsurpassed

I took this photo of the famous Senatobia First Baptist Church Ginkgo tree this morning with my cell phone. I can use that as an excuse for the photo not exactly capturing the amazing beauty of this tree, but if you want to know the truth—it's just one of those things you have to see for yourself.

You need to stand back, look at the beauty of the color of the yellow leaves, with the sun shining through to enhance the color even more. After a day or two of wind and rain, you'll see the magnificent yellow leaves lying beneath the bare tree like is has just dropped a silk shawl.

I've never gotten the perfect picture. Last year the leaves were still a little green. That particular afternoon several amateur photographers had gathered there to try their luck at getting the right photo. The next time I drove by the leaves were gone.

This morning, the tree was breath-taking.  If you stood there long enough you had experienced a worship service of sorts without ever going inside the church.  What a blessing.

The only thing that made the tree more beautiful was the sight of my two granddaughters. While they said it was pretty, they were really interested in its inviting, low limbs. If they could have just gotten there a moment before I did, they would have been sitting on one of those limbs in their Sunday clothes.

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.  ~William Shakespeare

Bella and Caroline