Goines On: The Old Rugged Cross

Click image for more vignettes

Goines was wondering where all the “†hank you Jesus” signs had gone. He didn’t know how long it had been since he’d seen one in the development. Oh, they were still to be seen out and about, but not right around where Goines lived.
    More interesting anyway was how individuals bespoke Jesus in their own, idiosyncratic ways – like what Goines thought of as the “Old Rugged Cross” display a couple of blocks farther along his street. Whoever displayed this ornate trophy Cross ornament had really hacked away at the Crepe myrtle immediately behind it, much more severely than Mrs. Goines would ever have had Goines prune their own Crepe myrtle, which Mrs. Goines had planted ten or twenty feet farther back from the street but in a similar location at their house.
    But Goines knew that not everyone could stand the Crepe myrtle’s seed pods, which fell off eventually and stained and discolored driveways and walkways. Each to his own, with the same liberty as each to his own toward religion – whether sitting down to it or standing away.
    And Crepe myrtles grew out again even after suffering the angry reproach of severe pruning. They were hearty; they would once again, and ever and ever, crown mere ornaments without shame.

Copyright © 2022 by Moristotle