Symbols of Faith

By Melissa

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In one of our seminars the other day, Mackenzie posed a question about the common theme in almost every church we have visited. San Clemente was the first church where I saw that at the bottom of the cross in the mosaic and at the top of the pillars, was a plant called the acanthus meaning tree of life. Mackenzie asked the question of its relationship to how we garden our relationship with God. Before she asked this question, I never made that connection. However, thinking about how many different things the tree of life can symbolize, this stood out to me the most. One's journey in faith is never linear, there are always times where one could rediscover their faith and that is when the garden is blooming and when one is struggling to find God that is when the garden is struggling in the winter, but when the spring comes, it always blooms up again. For me, the tree of life symbolizes that God is always in my life no matter what I could be going through.