Sequoias
In May we went to the Merced Grove of big Sequoias in Yosemite. After hiking 2 miles into the forest, we found 7 of the giant trees together in a small grove. I was surprised that they were so close together - almost touching after over a thousand years of growing together. We saw very large pine cones in the forest, but they weren't from the Sequoias. The cones of the Sequoias were about large walnut-size, with the seeds in the cone even smaller than an apple seed. It made me wonder if there's an application to how people plan and judge things we think are important. The small, unimpressive pinecone is the one that grew these trees that have lasted for thousands of years. They start small, grow slowly, but they endure.
So perhaps it's the small, unimpressive things that I take time to plant, tend, or leave undisturbed that will be lasting. But I have to be patient - maybe I won't even be around to see what they will eventually grow to become. And maybe planting things that can grow together is key. Those trees were clustered together, and we can never count the many other trees that grew around them over the years, and died, and were replaced by other trees that also grew and died.
What things of my life are enduring? What things eternal that will never die? Do these follow the same pattern of small starts, slow growth, collective strength? These mountains and sheer rock cliffs we've been traveling through follow the same pattern of what seems changeless solidity, but which is actually an ever-changing progression of forming and molding and breaking and rising. So many people faces have gazed at these rock faces and tree faces. Have we understood? I found myself, like all the others around me, moving to try to capture the best angle for a picture, but spending little time just gazing and wondering. My time there was so short I didn't spend much of it pondering these trees and rocks that were here so long before me and will last so long after. Did I miss the point?
So perhaps it's the small, unimpressive things that I take time to plant, tend, or leave undisturbed that will be lasting. But I have to be patient - maybe I won't even be around to see what they will eventually grow to become. And maybe planting things that can grow together is key. Those trees were clustered together, and we can never count the many other trees that grew around them over the years, and died, and were replaced by other trees that also grew and died.
What things of my life are enduring? What things eternal that will never die? Do these follow the same pattern of small starts, slow growth, collective strength? These mountains and sheer rock cliffs we've been traveling through follow the same pattern of what seems changeless solidity, but which is actually an ever-changing progression of forming and molding and breaking and rising. So many people faces have gazed at these rock faces and tree faces. Have we understood? I found myself, like all the others around me, moving to try to capture the best angle for a picture, but spending little time just gazing and wondering. My time there was so short I didn't spend much of it pondering these trees and rocks that were here so long before me and will last so long after. Did I miss the point?
Did you know that Sequoias are some of the largest trees on the planet, but have very shallow root systems. So, they can only survive in groves. They need each other for support, otherwise could not stand up. Love them.
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