Wisdom of Trees

Grow Where You Are Planted

• Sequoias can’t live in wet areas

  • Need well-drained soil

  • Wildfires to open up their cones to release their seeds

• Trees in rainforests are adapted to wet climates

  • Drip-tips help leaves to shed water quickly

  • Thin, smooth bark encourages water loss through the trunk and discourages mosses from growing on their surface

• Conifers are adapted to colder areas

  • Long, thin leaves (needles) provide greater surface area for photosynthesis

  • Waxy surface limits water loss through needles

  • Branches hold less snow to prevent them from breaking under heavy weight

• Consider how you are perfectly made for your current time and place

Embrace the Seasons

• “For everything there is a season; a time for every activity under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1

• Deciduous trees can grow in fairly cold areas because they embrace dormancy in the winter

  • Tree have to stop doing photosynthesis

  • Trees cannot pull water from the frozen ground

  • Trees can’t have water moving around in them because if it freezes the rough edges of the ice crystals can damage the tree’s cells

• Consider the season of life you are in and how you can embrace both the challenges and gifts of this season

Difficult Conditions Are Needed For Growth & Strength

• Biosphere 2 Experiment

  • Trees could only grow so high before they would fall over

  • They found out that trees need wind to help them grow

• Droughts drive tree roots deeper and wider

• Some trees need fire to release their seeds

• Pruning improves fruitfulness

• Consider how you can give yourself grace

Growth Is Slow

• God’s plan for our lives is a process

  • Trees start from tiny seeds

  • Roots needed before above-ground growth

  • One skinny tree ring per year

• Consider the hope it requires to “Plant seeds for trees under whose shade we will never sit.”