My wife and I saw these trees while on vacation at Turkey Run State Park. It is an oak and a beech growing so closely together that they are growing into one another. I think it makes a striking metaphor for marriage, in that you have two different bodies, anchored at the same point, one stout and strong, the other tall and graceful. They are obviously different, yet at the roots they appear the same, each one sharing a part of the other. Though they share the same space, they are not in competition for resources; both are tall and healthy. You look at them and get the impression that they would never separate, even if they could.
The beech tree is marked with the signs and symbols of passing hikers, covered in initials of people professing their love for one another. Like a woman, she wears the light of love openly, while her companion the oak resists all such displays. Yet like a faithful husband, his trunk is straight, never far from the slender body beside him; it is he who provides the support, and his roots wrap around hers, protecting her and strengthening her.
My wife and I often talk about the state of marriage in the world today, and I've blogged about it before here as well. We stood silent and looked at these trees for a long time, amazed at the way God displays himself in his creations, and provides us lessons for our lives.
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