Julie Lavender

CONSIDER THE SPANISH MOSS
by Julie Lavender

                                                                                       

My family lived in various parts of the country when my husband served as a medical entomologist for the United States Navy. Several of those duty stations took us far from our home in the southeast corner of the country.

Each time we came home for a visit, silver drapes of Spanish Moss on oaks and pines waved a welcome. Few things said ‘you’re home’ quite like Spanish Moss.

Loving the Spanish Moss, God, but were those pesky gnats necessary?

Well, actually, wicked humidity and ferocious gnats served as a reminder, too, but those go in the “Were those really necessary, God?” column – Spanish Moss, however, was a pleasing indicator of southern life.

I passed several trees on my walk this week that boasted the grayish strands. Some of them seemed like mere wisps of hair, while others contained thick masses of beard-like material.

True, not true

Some false assumptions abound about Spanish Moss – namely that it’s a parasite and harmful to the tree, somewhat like the mistletoe plant that I’ve blogged about before.

But Spanish Moss is actually an epiphyte, meaning it receives it’s nutrients from the air and from rainwater. Spanish Moss has no roots and doesn’t need soil. It’s really not even a moss, nor is it Spanish, but an early name stuck.

                                                   

Another falsehood about the Spanish Moss plant is that it harbors throngs of chiggers, the irritating, biting larval stage of a mite. While some chiggers are found in low-hanging strands of Spanish Moss, they are not as prolific as many believe, simply because the chigger’s choice of hosts are warm-blooded animals, and those aren’t often found in the tops of trees.

A home for lots of God's masterpieces

Spanish Moss does serve as a home for all sorts of wildlife, though. Like the Pelegrina tillandsia spider, spider mites, and the Zebra longwing butterflies that roost in the plant at night. 

Birds, like warblers and orioles, often pull filaments of Spanish Moss to weave into their nests.

And frogs and toads hide out in Spanish Moss that falls from the tree to the ground.

Spanish Moss says "you're home" to southerners

Spanish Moss only grows in the southeastern United States and prefers areas of high humidity, usually near water. And the garlands can grow to be over twenty feet long!

                                                                    

The lacy, curtain-like drapes wave and blow through the air, dangling from the branches of trees, whispering into the wind, “Welcome to the south, y’all.”

You know you're in the south when the Spanish Moss waves "hey y'all"

Yet, the moss wouldn’t have to speak for you to know you’d landed below the Mason-Dixon Line. The very sight of Spanish Moss is indicator enough.

                                                              

John 13:35 NLT says, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that 

you are my disciples."

 

No statement needed, no whispering, no shouting. No words necessary to prove we belong to God. Our actions will show it. 

Oh, to be so blatant....

God, let me be as blatantly indicative of You as the Spanish Moss plant is indicative to my southeastern corner of the United States.

What about you? What natural wonder says “you’re home” in your corner of the world?

What did God teach you through one of His creations this week?