A few months back I was visiting with Bob Gochenour about some of our shared ancestors. As we talked about what life must have been like for them, he told me a story from when he surveyed a plot of land for the US Forest Service in West Virginia.
The property had been last surveyed in 1917 and they were working in 1980. Thankfully, they were able to find the corner tree that was still standing and was of a healthy size. But then they had a challenge. The previous workers used a four-inch diameter black oak tree at a certain angle and at a particular distance for their next landmark. As Bob paced it off, he found a six-inch black oak right where the previous tree had been. On a whim, he scraped a bit of the bark to find the remnants of a paint blaze from 63 years earlier!
He was glad to have found the mark from so many years ago as it helped him know he was marking the boundary correctly. But the remarkable fact is that this humble tree with a diameter of a dollar bill’s length had only added two inches in over six decades. Most trees of that age and species are twice that size with some even at three times the diameter. Imagine how tightly packed those rings must have been inside that bark. I have a similar situation in my yard where most of the pines I planted 30 years ago average 18 inches in diameter, but one is only four, even though I planted them all the same day.
What caused this West Virginia oak tree to grow so slowly? While it’s hard to know for sure, it was likely the result of poor soil and competition. Not only farmers, but foresters, wildlife managers, and even fish biologists know that good soils produce good crops, good trees, and good animals while the opposite is also true. In addition, if nearby trees were dominating the crown space above and sucking out the moisture beneath, this little black oak would have had a tough time putting on girth and would likely be producing few acorns to benefit his surroundings.
All Christians don’t grow at the same rate either. Some take advantage of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s guidance to mature rapidly and with obvious effect. They become a positive influence in their environment at home, at work, at church, and in their communities. In addition, you can see much good fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, holiness and righteousness being produced in their lives.
Unfortunately, others seem to grow slower than even this black oak. They got saved many years ago but their growth has been stunted. Not because other Christians were shading them out or stealing all their nutrients and moisture, but because they haven’t been tending to their own spiritual development. Thankfully, there is plenty of Jesus’ light and living water for every believer, but some choose not to avail themselves of these rich resources. As a result, slow-growing Christians produce little fruit to glorify God or benefit their surroundings.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus told the parable of the soils. It helps us understand the varying human hearts and how the seed of His Word either germinates and thrives or withers and dies. Every farmer and forester wants the good soil that produces a hundred-fold and our Heavenly Father does too. Thankfully, just like soil managers, we can increase the productivity of our hearts and lives by fertilizing our souls with extra doses of God’s Word, worship, prayer, and Christian fellowship. As we add these various soil amendments to our hearts, it’s amazing how much our spiritual fruit productivity can multiply!
As we ponder the various growth rates of trees, may they remind us of our need to grow spiritually that we might bring much glory to our Heavenly Forester. Blessings, George