Trees
The other day I was horseback riding through a wooded area. I noticed the great variety in the size of the trees, everything from tiny saplings which didn’t reach my stirrups to giants towering 50, 60, 70 feet over my head (that’s 20 metres or so). And compared to rainforest trees, these are stunted. The tallest trees in the world reach over 350 feet (more than 100 metres).
While genetic factors limit the height of trees, they continue growing, laying down ring after ring of new wood, every year, until they die. This separates them from many other plants which reach maturity then die in one growing season, leaving seeds in the ground to begin the process over the next year. While perennials live for several years, they die back in the winter and grow back from the rootstock each spring. Consequently, their potential for size is limited to the amount they can grow in any one growing season.
Some lower order animals grow throughout their lives, but I’ve been around animals all my life and have observed that they have a limited window in which they can grow. When that window closes, they are finished. If they lack good nutrition during this period, they remain stunted for the rest of their lives. Physically we are like other mammals - at the end of adolescence, we stop growing, at least taller. While most of us add a few extra pounds to haul around as we get older, there is a sense in which we stop growing.
Spiritually, we don’t have to be like this. Spiritually, we can be like trees and keep growing indefinitely. The Bible talks about this in a couple of places, comparing the spiritual life of people who know and love and trust God to fruitful trees planted in fertile soil near the river. Psalm 1:3 and Jeremiah 17:8 say that such people are like trees planted by rivers of water. They bear fruit regularly. Their leaves don’t wither. They keep spreading out their roots. They safely survive drought. I have a few friends in their 80s who serve as wonderful examples of this to me. They are so close to the Lord that they have continued to grow spiritually throughout their lives. Even as their bodies fail, their spirits do not wither. They are fruitful as they pour their accumulated wisdom into others. Their spreading roots provide for sheltering branches offering safety and refreshment for the weary and fearful.
I began my spiritual life when I was eight years old, acknowledging my separation from God because of my sinfulness and trusting the death of Jesus in my place to bring me into a living relationship with the Source of life. My challenge now is to be like a tree that grows continually throughout its life.
