Stories are how we teach our children and pass on knowledge that we want them to have and hold. Hearing the history of All Saints' through the stories being told this month has been informative and incredibly moving for me. I think it can be the same for your children if you share these stories with them, just as our grandparents used to share their stories with us. For example, Emma and I came to a Better the Block Day last year where Ed Dougherty was teaching us about the plants and trees on our block and how to take care of them through stories about this block. One specific story was very personal for Emma and me – the story of our
Great Magnolia Sanctuary
.
This tree was originally planted on the church’s side yard next to North Avenue. It eventually had to be moved to its present home by our arcade on West Peachtree Street as the city and traffic patterns grew and it was not doing so well there. Unbeknownst to the people who transplanted it, they dug a fabulous hole right on top of a spring that runs underneath the property down to Spring Street. And that tree just took off! It is still happy with its daily drink, but I think it might just be thriving because of another nourishing food – the unconditional love of children climbing on it and hugging it and calling it their “Sanctuary.”
Psalm 1 describes ‘those who delight in the Lord’ like this: 3
"They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper."
Zack told me about another interpretation of this verse that goes more like this:
“They are like trees TRANSPLANTED by streams of water,”
meaning that we can’t live our lives without God’s help redirecting and transplanting us to where we need to go.
So tell your children our stories. Our stories of this place that is their place. Our stories of our faith which is their faith. Our stories which we must pass down to become their stories. And when you pass that Magnolia Sanctuary, maybe blow it a kiss or give a nod of thanksgiving for its story in our children’s life.
