Trillium II Springtime in the Mountains VIII

…knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. … because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:18-19, 24-25

Like the orange salmon which spawn near my home every autumn, trilliums are a sure sign of another season – springtime. And like the salmon, I sometimes have trouble walking past them without taking a picture. Trilliums are in the family Liliaceae, a true lily. In fact, one of their common names is wood lily.

Trilliums get their name because their flowers and parts come in sets of threes. Their three leaves act sort of like solar panels, capturing energy given off by the sun to help power the plant.  I’ve read that it can take from seven to ten years for a trillium to bloom, depending on the environmental conditions. Their lifespan may be twenty to thirty years (not sure who managed to observe that event).

These flowers use an interesting method to disperse their seeds to new areas away from the parent plant. Attached to their seed is a fleshy substance (called an elaisome for you botanists out there) which contains lots of fats and proteins. Ants in particular like to consume this substance, and also to feed it to their developing larvae. So, when an ant finds a trillium seed, it will carry it back to its nest, eat the elaisome, and discard the seed. Now the trillium seed is scattered away from the parent plant, and most likely deposited in some nutrient-rich soil in which to begin growing.

The above scripture states that people come and go, and our glory fades away like flowers as we pass from this life to the next. But we can be redeemed – released or set free on receipt of ransom – by the precious blood of Christ. The bible is clear – the debt we all have before a holy God is sin. But he made a way for us to have our sins forgiven by sending His only Son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin so we don’t have to. Not sure how to be redeemed by His precious blood? Please see Got God?

Hope you have a great day. And maybe get to see a trillium or two as you do.