A Tree and a Prayer
While we were at the Santa Barbara Mission, a stranger said to me, “You are into plants, right?”
“I’m into lots of things,” I replied with a smile. Quite some time before, I had been taking photos of plants in a little garden devoted to plants the Chumash used; and I guess he must have noticed me doing that. I was puzzled.
He then told Ray and me about a giant fig tree by the Amtrak station in downtown Santa Barbara. He really thought we ought to see it. He was right!
At first, I tried to take Ray’s picture in front of it, but I had a hard time getting far enough back to get the whole tree. Here is one of my first attempts. I circled Ray in white to show you how gigantic the tree is compared to my almost six-foot husband. As you can see, this is only half the tree!
When Ray wanted to take my photo with the tree, too, I suggested that maybe he try just the trunk.
A sign near the trunk said that a sailor gave this Moreton Bay Fig Tree to a local girl in 1876 and she planted it. The tree is from Australia. When the girl moved away the following year, her friend moved the sapling to this location where it has grown ever since. The tree is on the California Registry of Big Trees. We decided to go around to the other side to see if I could photograph the whole tree from that side. On the way we noticed that it was producing figs.
Here is the giant Moreton Bay Fig Tree in all its glory. Notice the street under its left side and the car going along the street and under the tree. This is one big tree!
I pray that all of your descendants and mine are firmly planted like this Moreton Bay Fig Tree and that they continue to bear fruit throughout all generations.
How blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree
firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:1-3
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