EVERGREENS
Lord God of Nature,
You have created stately green firs and pine trees,
cedars and sequoias, which tower majestically upward
in forests and on high mountain tops, reaching towards Your skies.
In many cultures trees have been revered
and invested with ritual and spiritual significance,
in winter solstice celebrations,
and most notably, of course, across the globe
in commemorations of the birth of Jesus Christ:
victories of life over death in the dark of cold winter.
May my love for You stand unshaken like these great green sentinels.
I thank you for these living monuments,
many growing unseen by mankind deep in the forests.
May I offer them back to you, Creator of all nature,
in thanks for all You have done for me
and as pledges of my faithfulness
to You and Your Word now and forever.
Amen
(c) 2011 Donn B.
Murphy
A note:
On January 19,1961, the day before the Inaugural of President John
F. Kennedy, a heavy snowfall blocked the streets of the capitol.
With a friend who had two tickets to the Inaugural Eve Gala, I walked
from Arlington, along the Pennsylvania parade route which was being
cleared of snow for the parade the next day, across the city
and to the National Guard Armory where the gala was to take place.
At the scheduled time of 9 pm, with so many inaugural eve suppers
and so many streets blocked with snow and slow-moving traffic, the
hall was perhaps one quarter filled,
the audience scattered across a sea of empty seats. Some 45 minutes
later
President Kennedy arrived. Seizing the moment, he honored and invigorated
the attendees with words to this effect:
"In the fall all the trees turn brown and shed
their leaves except the evergreens,
which stand proud and green throughout the winter storms.
You are my evergreens tonight!"
The early-arrivals were, of course, ecstatic. Slowly the hall filled,
and the evening's entertainment included luminaries of the era.
Hosted by Frank Sinatra, the roster of then-famous stars from Broadway,
film, television and the classical arts included Harry
Belefonte, Milton
Berle,
Leonard Bernstein, Joey
Bishop, Nat
King Cole, Tony Curtis, Bill
Dana, Better Davis,
Jimmy Durante, Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia
Jackson, Gene Kelly, Peter Lawford,
Janet Leigh, Frederic March,
Ethel
Merman, Laurence
Olivier, Sydney
Portier,
Louis Prima, Juliet
Prowse, Anthony Quinn, Kelly
Smith, Helen Traubel
and Raquel Welch.
A night to remember.
[The President's
remarks may have been ad lib. They apparently are not included
in his dossier of speeches.]
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