On Sundays I teach 14-and-15-year-old boys at church. Today's lesson was on
grace. To go along with our reading of Jesus' "
I am the vine; ye are the branches" sermon, I brought in the above two specimens as an
object lesson* (a very Mormony thing to do). They are (top to bottom)
mountain laurel (
Kalmia latifolia) and
silver maple (
Acer saccharinum). Just trying to sneak a little plant identification in for these kids.
*The mountain laurel is in fruit. The silver maple is in flower, but will never make it to fruit since it has been severed from its tree. St. John reports Jesus as saying "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." (John 15:4 KJV)
1 comment:
Mountain laurel is Pennsylvania's state flower. This specimen comes from my back yard. The silver maple specimen I found on the sidewalk in front of my nextdoor neighbor's house. Our house is the third of three in a row that have a nice mature silver maple in the front yard.
Post a Comment