Tall Stands the Tree

Lately, I have found myself pining for the warmer temperatures of spring and the easier living of summer.

Here is some verse as inspiration for this chilly Wednesday in February:

Tall stands the Tree beside the stream,
Where living waters flow;
Wide-flung the branches, cool the shade,
Where all the weary go.

Fresh green the leaves for healing giv'n,
Bright gold the new-pressed oil
That runs as balm upon the banks
Toward which the weary toil.

Deep-scarred the bark, but sweet the wine
That pours down, last and best,
And rich the table spread below,
Where all the weary rest.

Sing praise to God, the gardener
Whose labors never cease
To make beneath the Tree of Life
For all the weary, peace.

-- Sr. Genevieve Glen, O.S.B. (Copyright 1999 by the Benedictine Nuns of the Abbey of St. Walburga, Virginia Dale, Colorado. Published by OCP Publications. Be sure to check out Sr. Genevieve's selections at OCP.)

The photo above is from here.