Violets Cracking Rocks by Maxie Dunnam

Easter is the punctuation mark of the Christian Faith: the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s Son as his gift of salvation for all who will receive it. Easter stirs an image in my mind: violets cracking rocks.

The image was connected with the work of Tennessee Williams, one of America’s greatest dramatists. In their commentary about his life and work, critics often made the point that he was a lonely and frightened man. His plays presented a world of shattered hopes and failed visions. While he loved his characters, they, like him, struggled against the frightening blindness of their lives.

Later, Williams became less angry and frightened. After his death, Darn Sullivan, writing in the Los Angeles Times, noted that Williams’s themes had changed; that in his later work, he was writing about “the power of violets cracking the rocks.” 

What a powerful image… “the power of violets cracking the rocks.” More powerful, but in the same category, is an image: Jesus used, “Consider the lilies… how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Luke 12:27)

That the image came to me should not be a surprise. I grew up in rural Mississippi. Winters were wet and cold. We had few clothes, but they were adequate. I had three brothers and two sisters. I was the youngest of three boys. I not only wore “hand-me-down” shirts and overalls, but shoes. The size needed, and shoes available, determined what shoes were purchased in the Fall before winter set in. It was rare that we wore shoes at any time in the summer. Wearing shoes was determined by season and weather.

That necessity was decided primarily by my mother. We children didn’t enjoy wearing shoes, and we hounded our parents to let us shed them. I don’t know how other parents made the decision, but Momma had her own way. A blooming violet was proof of spring and promise of summer. If we could bring home a blooming violet, it was “shoes-off-time.”

That’s the reason Williams’ image came to mind just before Easter. What an image for resurrection: the power of violets cracking the rocks. In the weeks ahead I am going to reflect and share with you more about this dynamic because Jesus used a similar one in teaching about life.

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! (Luke 12:27-28 NIV)