The size of the seed has no relationship to the size of the tree that grows from it. Douglas firs in Oregon and Washington may grow 200 feet tall and 8 to 12 feet in diameter, and they start from a very small seed. The giant redwoods and sequoias in California also start from very small seeds. The largest known tree, a sequoia called General Sherman, started almost 4000 years ago from a seed so tiny (1/16 of an inch long) that it takes 3000 to weigh an ounce! Although lightning knocked about 100 feet off its top, the tree is still 275 feet tall and more than 30 feet in diameter at its base.
Other parts of the country also have big trees. For instance, the 400-year-old champion white oak near Chesapeake Bay in Maryland spreads its branches 158 feet across. Like all oaks, it began as a little acorn, perhaps buried by a squirrel and forgotten.
A tree seed, like all seeds, is a storehouse of all the parts that will grow from it. Nothing can change it to anything else. As it germinates, new cells form the parts of the plant that will develop from it. These cells take over their individual work as if told what to do, which is exactly the case as God the Creator has designed the work of each cell. Some form bark, some form wood tissue, some produce branches, others produce leaves, or fruit, or more seeds and some form roots. This process continues until a full-grown tree will contain billions of cells, each faithfully doing its own job, just as the Creator planned.
Where sliding soil causes a young tree to tip outward, a special message is given to certain cells to make an “elbow” so the tree will grow straight up again. When this happens, the trunk stops growing on the inner side while the outer side continues to grow until the straightening is completed, and then they work together again. The next time you see a tree this shape, think how wonderfully God arranged this growth correction. Actually, the trunk becomes stronger at this point than the rest of the tree.
This reminds us that a boy or girl who admits his or her faults to the Lord Jesus and asks His help to correct them becomes a stronger person. The psalmist said, “I will confess my transgressions [sins] unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:55I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. (Psalm 32:5)).
APRIL 20, 1997
ML-04/20/1997