Post by CraigF on Apr 23, 2008 20:38:49 GMT -5
Ozark asked me to post this for him. I think that his camera is a good one to say the least. This is a really good photo. White is extremely hard to reproduce correctly for a digital camera (if anyone wants to know pm me or my wife, MRSF, about white balence) and this looks right on the money!
Good job Ozark!
He also asked me to post the legend of the Dogwood with the picture. Interesting how something so beautiful can go together with something so terrible like Jesus' painful death on a cross for us when we don't deserve it!
As legend has it, the cross on which Jesus was crucified was made from a dogwood tree.
God decreed that the dogwood tree would from that day
forth never grow large enough to be used to make a cross.
Thus, the dogwood tree is a small, under story tree.
The flower of the dogwood has four petals which makes the shape of a cross.
The center of the flower resembles the crown of thorns with bright red,
clustered fruit in the center representing the blood of Christ.
The dogwood blooms in April when Easter Sunday
marks the resurrection of Christ after the Crucifixion.
The Old, Old, Legend Of The Dogwood
Two thousand years ago, few trees in the Middle East were not big enough to construct anything.
However, one tree was valued above the others for its thick trunk and fine, strong wood.When the
Romans came to rule over Jerusalem, their government used this same timber to build the crosses
for executing criminals. A group of workers were assigned to gather wood for the crosses. Before
long, every Roman official knew the best wood came from these gatherers of execution wood, so
those workers became popular.
One day, the wood gatherers received a special request. An officer of the Roman court came and
said, "The King of Jews is to be put to death. Deliver an extra-large cross made from your finest
wood." So, a fresh tree was cut from the forest of the trees with thick trunks and fine, strong wood.
An extra-tall (and extra-heavy) cross was quickly made and delivered.
Three days after the death of Jesus of Nazereth, the chief wood gatherer got alarming news. "All of
our finest trees are withering!" the messenger whispered. The wood gatherer hurried to the forest
and saw that it was true.
Several years later, the chief wood gatherer heard that, every spring, many people visited the old
forest that had once made his job so easy. Despite his advancing years, he set out to discover why.
He saw the remains of forest, now like a salty bottoms, with only a few trees still standing tall,
baked, lifeless and rotting.
But what was this? As he drew closer, his feeble eyes could make out the people walking among
thousands of beautiful, flowering bushes. Seeing one of his own workers there, the old man said,
"No one could ever make a cross out of this twisted wood. Our finest tree has gone to the dogs!" He
noticed the beautiful white flowers, each blossom looking as if it had been burned from the touch of a
miniature cross. So...an old and beautiful legend has it that, at the time of the crucifixion, the
dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree and other monarchs of the forest. Because of its
firmness and strength it was selected as the timber for the cross, but to be put to such a cruel use
greatly distressed the tree. Sensing this, the crucified Jesus in his gentle pity for the sorrow and
suffering of all said to it: "Because of your sorrow and pity for My sufferings, never again will the
dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a gibbet. Henceforth it will be slender, bent and
twisted and its blossoms will be in the form of a cross -- two long and two short petals. In the center
of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints -- brown with rust and stained with red --
and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember.
Good job Ozark!
He also asked me to post the legend of the Dogwood with the picture. Interesting how something so beautiful can go together with something so terrible like Jesus' painful death on a cross for us when we don't deserve it!
As legend has it, the cross on which Jesus was crucified was made from a dogwood tree.
God decreed that the dogwood tree would from that day
forth never grow large enough to be used to make a cross.
Thus, the dogwood tree is a small, under story tree.
The flower of the dogwood has four petals which makes the shape of a cross.
The center of the flower resembles the crown of thorns with bright red,
clustered fruit in the center representing the blood of Christ.
The dogwood blooms in April when Easter Sunday
marks the resurrection of Christ after the Crucifixion.
The Old, Old, Legend Of The Dogwood
Two thousand years ago, few trees in the Middle East were not big enough to construct anything.
However, one tree was valued above the others for its thick trunk and fine, strong wood.When the
Romans came to rule over Jerusalem, their government used this same timber to build the crosses
for executing criminals. A group of workers were assigned to gather wood for the crosses. Before
long, every Roman official knew the best wood came from these gatherers of execution wood, so
those workers became popular.
One day, the wood gatherers received a special request. An officer of the Roman court came and
said, "The King of Jews is to be put to death. Deliver an extra-large cross made from your finest
wood." So, a fresh tree was cut from the forest of the trees with thick trunks and fine, strong wood.
An extra-tall (and extra-heavy) cross was quickly made and delivered.
Three days after the death of Jesus of Nazereth, the chief wood gatherer got alarming news. "All of
our finest trees are withering!" the messenger whispered. The wood gatherer hurried to the forest
and saw that it was true.
Several years later, the chief wood gatherer heard that, every spring, many people visited the old
forest that had once made his job so easy. Despite his advancing years, he set out to discover why.
He saw the remains of forest, now like a salty bottoms, with only a few trees still standing tall,
baked, lifeless and rotting.
But what was this? As he drew closer, his feeble eyes could make out the people walking among
thousands of beautiful, flowering bushes. Seeing one of his own workers there, the old man said,
"No one could ever make a cross out of this twisted wood. Our finest tree has gone to the dogs!" He
noticed the beautiful white flowers, each blossom looking as if it had been burned from the touch of a
miniature cross. So...an old and beautiful legend has it that, at the time of the crucifixion, the
dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree and other monarchs of the forest. Because of its
firmness and strength it was selected as the timber for the cross, but to be put to such a cruel use
greatly distressed the tree. Sensing this, the crucified Jesus in his gentle pity for the sorrow and
suffering of all said to it: "Because of your sorrow and pity for My sufferings, never again will the
dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a gibbet. Henceforth it will be slender, bent and
twisted and its blossoms will be in the form of a cross -- two long and two short petals. In the center
of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints -- brown with rust and stained with red --
and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember.
