My fascination with trees is ongoing. When I pondered my first post title idea, “On Being a Tree” I found that I had a short memory…

So one good tree story deserves another I suppose.

Last week I heard a fact about redwood trees that stuck with me. As old (think several centuries to a decade or more) majestic and grand as those towering trees are (some are like giant natural skyscrapers) their roots are surprisingly shallow.

In reality, redwoods are strong not because their lone tap root goes miles deep but because their entire root system spreads wide and interconnects with the roots of other trees enabling them to support each other and grow exponentially. Kind of reminds me of the way our walk with other believers helps grow us up in the body of Christ.

For years I tried to do this life on my own until I realized how much more deeply I needed Jesus. So I doubled down in my pursuit of more of Him. And strangely more of him led me to share things with all of you. Which is sometimes easier online because I have spell check and edit and undo…unlike real life when my words can sometimes be less than regal. It took a step out in faith to become a prayer partner with just one friend and suddenly I realized the blessings waiting from casting a wider net.

Contrary to popular belief (and my own selfish pride occasionally) we need other people. Sure sometimes other humans are well, human, and as a result full of quirks and kinks but when nature proves that being connected brings benefits, and Jesus invites us to get along, forgive and foster love in spite of all that how can we argue?

Those colossal timbers don’t envy or put others to shame. Their focus is reaching for the sun, holding each other up and using their canopies to capture the fog and make water. They are not easily moved by small annoyances. Their bark is thick and they are actually nourished by the fires that sometimes roll through the forest floor because they thrive on the richness the ashes leave in the soil.

I can’t think of a better piece of creation I’d love to be more like.

God’s greatest glory and inspiration is displayed in the beauty of His handiwork everyday and reinforced through His word.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how WIDE and LONG and HIGH and DEEP is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3:14-19