What I Learned From Trees

WHAT I LEARNED FROM TREES



Trees hold great symbolic meaning. Throughout all centuries of life and all faiths of people, trees hold meaning beyond the physical shape they hold.

A tree has three parts. It has its roots, its trunk, and its branches. The roots grow down deep. It gets its nutrients from the soil it grows in. If it isn’t planted in good soil, it rots or dies.

The roots of a tree symbolize our need for love and close relationships with family and friends.
The trunk of a tree symbolizes trials, experiences, and character development.
The branches of a tree symbolize possibilities, hope, trust, and flexibility.

What happens when the roots, trunk, or branches are damaged?

The Roots are damaged when we aren’t planted in God’s love and truth. We in turn are in soil that doesn’t nourish us. Instead we are trying to nourish ourselves in what can only leave us feeling more damaged, unsafe, wounded, and scattered from not having a safe place to build our foundation on, which is our trunk.

The Trunk is damaged when we haven't allowed God to transform us through trials and experiences. Instead we end up having a weak character. We haven't learned how to persevere so when the strong winds of life come our way, we are tossed wildly around by the wind instead of standing firm.

The Branches are damaged when we we do not know how to hope and trust. Because of past failures when we sought possibilities and change, we are afraid to be open to new experiences. Doing so leaves us feeling too vulnerable and exposed so instead we shrivel up; quietly dreaming. We become stiff and are not open to possibilities. We become inflexible because we are afraid of allowing change and vulnerability to enter into our life.

Each area of the tree needs to be healthy for the tree to function properly. The parts of the tree are interdependent and integrated.

As a tree's roots grow firly in nutritious soul, the nutrition enters the trunk and branches. As this occurs the trunk and the branches get larger and stronger. The roots span out further in the ground, the trunk stands more firm, and the branches reach out further. It's vital that each area of the tree remains strong in order to survive.

Would you like to become more rooted? ---Embrace God's love for you. Seek relationships with others where you feel loved, nourished, and protected. Also, listen to your branches. They have sweet wisdom for your ears. Branches tell you to trust when you have been hurt from trying to trust. Branches tell you to take a risk, to hope for more than what you can see. To hope for restoration in broken relationships. To trust God when it seems like he has failed you. Also, listen to your trunk. Your trunk will bring you strength and perseverance to continue to hope though trials, brokenness and failure. Your trunk is your core. It helps you stand firm, strong and in upright character.

Would you like your branches to reach out further?--- Remember that you can trust and hope in Christ. Remember God's promises for your life. Start to dream beyond what seems realistic or expected. And watch your faith grow. Ask God to increase your faith. Maybe you have been listening to lies your whole life about how you are a failure and can't do anything right leaving you feeling discouraged. Listen to you roots. Remember that through abiding in Christ, you can be rooted and established in God's love. Chose not to listen to the soil that doesn't nourish you. It is your choice. When your roots grow deep in God’s love you learn to trust God and also yourself because of the transformation God brings to your life and the wisdom he gives. You take risks again, and when you fail, you have your roots to help you know who you are as God's child and you have your trunk to strengthen you and give you perseverance to keep reaching.

Would you like a stronger trunk?-- Remember that God has said he will never give us more than we can handle. The trials that come our way are meant to strengthen us. They are meant to form in us a stronger character. If the same problems are always nocking you to the ground, and you haven't changed your approach to them- it may be a sign of a weak trunk. Your roots encourage you to keep persevering. Your roots help support you when you feel you are being tossed by the wind.

The main purpose of the trunk is to transfer the growth of your roots to branches, and to be strong to hold up your branches. It's the communicator between the roots and the branches. When we grow our branches faster than our trunk can support, we could snap at any moment. Do you ever feel like you reaching and striving, but don't have what it takes? Your trunk cautions you to be careful of taking on more than it can hold. Your roots tell you to slow down and reflect. No tree trunk can stand without being firmly rooted, because the branches will be too heavy.

When your roots receive healing and nourishment, your trunk can grow stronger. When your trunk is strong, its branches can span out farther. Your trunk is weak because you haven’t learned how to persevere. You have not chosen to work against the trials of your present and the issues of your past. Your issues of your past are usually found in your roots. When we work through issues our roots are healed and the core of ourselves is strengthened. Your roots need to be firmly planted in healthy relationships with God and others. Your roots need healing and constant nourishment. They are tender and can easily be grown down in the wrong places and turn bitter and rotten. Be careful. Your roots give the rest of you life. Your roots need to be planted in love, truth, and soil that they can grow in. Your trunk needs to learn perseverance and remain strong through trial and hardship. But be careful! That trunk can become stiff and unwilling to move. Your trunk is what shows your true character. It becomes wise not from age but from understanding God and why she allows us to go through trials. Your branches need to span out and reach for possibilities in life. They need to be made vulnerable to the winds that blow against it because what is gained is often better than what is risked. Your branches teach you to hope and trust in what is unseen. But be careful! Your branches can encourage you to take on much more that your trunk can hold or your roots are healed for.

And how does this transformation happen? From God.


Therefore since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God (ROOTS) through our LORD Jesus Christ. Into this grace in which we STAND, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance (TRUNK) produces character, and character produces hope (BRANCHES), and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Keep your ROOTS in him and have your lives BUILD on him.