The giant sequoia tree; the largest tree in the world. Check this out. The oldest known sequoia tree is 3,500 years old!!!
Just think about it. This tree was alive even before the birth of Jesus Christ! I think that this is downright crazy.
And there is more. This tree, which is the largest in the world, can grow to 50 to 85m in height! Now consider this. This 85m tall giant grew from what was once a tiny seed?
Crazy!
That’s right. The seed cones are 4 to 7 cm long and the seeds are 4 to 5 mm long.
Half Grown
Seeds can seem insignificant and small things, but given the right conditions, they can become something with potential, that can be a promise that holds so much value.
Our lives are kinda like this. When we are born, we are totally helpless. We have no effect on people, except maybe our parents and siblings. We are just like tiny little seeds. But when we are planted and go through different seasons in life, we can begin to grow and become something wonderful and beautiful.
Unfortunately many people today, never grow to their full potential. They may start growing, but at some stage in life, they stop, because life becomes too hard or too risky.
If this becomes our scenario, we will never become that creation we were meant to be. Our potential becomes limited and we will only be half grown.
There are too many half grown people in our world.
We need to be brave enough to step out and continue to grow no matter how scary or messy it may be.
The risk is worth it.
The Harsh Winter
Did you know that for a sequoia tree to grow, the seed must be buried under a blanket of snow.
Sometimes our lives feel like this. Like we are being buried under the snow and the harshness of life, or ‘like this season will never pass’.
But the crazy thing is, is that without this snow, a sequoia tree wouldn’t be able to grow. It needs this harsh season so that when spring comes and all the snow melts, it can be nourished and begin to grow.
We need the hard seasons in life so that we can grow. They are vital for us to become who we are meant to be.
I want us to think of anyone we really look up to. It might be a family member, or a friend, or it might be someone famous. In every case these people all had to struggle to get to where they are. If we ask just one of them, we will find out that their life has been full of ups and downs.
No one can go through life without a challenge. It is what makes us who we are, and without that challenge we wouldn’t be able to grow.
Planted not buried
When we face a winter, it feels like we are being constantly pulled down.
It feels like we have been buried.
Now being buried and being planted are two completely different things.
If we have been planted, we go into life’s challenges knowing that there is hope and that one day we will see the light again.
But if we are buried, we go into the challenge feeling hopeless, that we have been left for dead, that we are inadequate, and have no hope of coming out the other side.
God only plants us, He won’t let us be buried. He will plant us into certain situations and times, not so that we struggle, but so that we can grow and learn to trust in Him.
Even if it feels like we are being buried and that we are destined to perish, remember that God plants us so that we actually grow.
Different Seasons
We all have hard seasons. The ones that feel hopeless and unbearable. Sometimes we get so caught up in where we are that we forget that others struggle as well. We are not alone.
If we look around and see that everyone’s life is good, we are being deceived. We all have hardship. Everyone has hardship. It’s just in different ways and at different times.
Just like when it is dark on one side of Earth, on the other side the sun is shining and it is day time. Our seasons vary from person to person and this allows us to help each other.
If everyone was going through a painful experience at the same time, then who would be there to lean on, and to encourage those going through that hard time? No one.
Our seasons are different from our friend's seasons, and for a good reason.
The world isn’t really against us, and we aren’t alone.
Look in the Bible in Ecclesiates chapter 3. Now this was written 1,500 years before Jesus was born, about the same time our sequoia tree seed was germinating. What a crazy coincidence.
It says this, “To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under Heaven.”
Now we get the full picture when we read the whole chapter.
The song Turn, Turn, Turn, was written in the late 1950’s by Pete Seeger and made famous by the folk rock band The Byrds.
The song quotes Ecclesiastes 3:1-9 almost word for word. Crazy isn’t it.
Remember to live your life to the fullest. Through the tough seasons remember that this won’t last forever, that we have been placed here to grow and that everyone’s season looks different for a reason.
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