Another fun thought experiment that led to lots of Aha Moments!
Giant Sequoias are one of the most enduring living things on the planet with many living over 2,000 years and some living past 3,000 years, or 40 human lifetimes. These trees have lived through all the major wars of history, enormous natural disasters, and huge changes in climate and civilization around them.
Giant Sequoias are the world’s largest trees. They can grow to be more than 250 feet tall. The tallest is 310 feet. To fully comprehend how tall it stands, it is equivalent to a 30 story building in height and a 3 story building in width (trunk only). An unnamed tree in the Alder Creek Grove has the largest trunk circumference at 155 feet.
Redwoods once grew throughout the Northern Hemisphere. The oldest known redwood fossils date back more than 200 million years to the Jurassic period. Today, the last giant sequoias on Earth live on land about the size of Cleveland (48,000 acres), in about 75 groves scattered along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California.
IF WE WANT TO LIVE LONG AND GROW TALL (SPIRITUALLY, EMOTIONALLY, MENTALLY, AND SPIRITUALLY), WE CAN LEARN PLENTY OF LESSONS FROM THE SEQUOIA.
Surprisingly, they don’t have a deep root system. 95% of the Sequoia’s roots are within three feet of the surface. How do they remain upright without a deep anchoring system? The secret to their success is their intertwining root system. Giant Sequoias are extremely well-balanced and can notoriously maintain their equilibrium regardless of difficult conditions. The complex intertwining of roots helps support these huge trees. They only root to 12 to 14 feet deep even at maturity BUT a mature sequoia's roots can occupy over 1 acre of earth and contain over 90,000 cubic feet of soil. That mass of matted roots and soil has to maintain the equilibrium of a tree that is nearly 300 feet tall and weighs nearly 2 million pounds. Sequoias help each other. Giant Sequoias do not compete with each other for resources, rather their huge root systems fuse together and they share resources. They overcome the vulnerability that shallow roots present by connecting with each other, becoming a community. We are all connected with one another through God. He is the foundation that we so desperately need in our lives. The people most successful, most significant and most on fire for life embrace the joy of sharing experiences with others. Great trees and great leaders embrace this and utilize this truth to collectively reach new heights.
Sequoia seedlings are much more likely to survive where fire burned hottest. Clusters of Giant Sequoias may be found where fire once burned very hot, called a Hot Spot. Because the shade canopy is destroyed, those remaining plants that can tolerate high light intensities will be favored.
Not only is the Giant Sequoia adapted to live with fire, it gains benefit from the association. For example, rapid growth occurs after a fire. Rising heat from a fire dries out the hanging Sequoia cones which open up, allowing seeds to rain by the millions. These seeds land on cleared soil fertilized by ash. On soil left bare by fire, they can take root. Giant Sequoia seed germination naturally occurs best in fire-burned, mineral-rich soils. What looks like a trial for the Sequoia is in reality the process they need for future growth. (1 Peter 4:12-13, James 1:2-3) We can’t let the trials in our lives define us, but we can let them shape us into better and stronger Christians. We can rejoice when we overcome obstacles in life because we know we have benefitted and have learned from them. We can also choose to let go of the pain and embrace the lessons within those experiences! In letting go of the things, beliefs, hurts and missed opportunities we’ve been holding onto for too long, we are free to drop seeds of new life, new possibility that can grow and thrive around us. What we do not transform gets transmitted. If we don’t deal with the losses and mistakes of yesterday we transfer them to our kids, friends, colleagues and neighbors.
Sequoias are thick-skinned. The bark of the Giant Sequoia is generally thicker than that of any other species of the tree on earth, and this heavy bark is a major factor contributing to the tree’s longevity. Sections of the bark can be up to 3 feet in thickness.
Sequoias can die from fire if the fire gets through their protective bark. The mighty sequoias are unique with their fire-resistant bark, but if there is an opening in the bark or if fire is too close to the roots, then the fire can get inside or underneath the bark. Once fire gets past the bark there is nothing to stop it. The fire won't consume the tree immediately, as there are still the tannins that resist fire, but the fire will smolder, essentially slow-burning the tree from the inside out. Becoming offended, being offensive or harboring hatred, anger or wrong desire is like a slow-burning fire that can consume us from the inside.
Sequoias have an amazing ability to heal when injured. Often despite severe fire damage (some burned completely hollow), Giant Sequoias can survive for centuries. Continually new wood grows from either side of a fire scar, covering a little more each year until the injury is healed over like new skin on a body. Cross-sections of logged Sequoias disclose many cases where fire scars have completely healed after the damage was incurred. The Tunnel Tree has a hole that people cut into its base to allow stagecoaches to pass through in the middle, and the tree managed to repair itself enough and continue to grow. We can allow the heat to burn us up, wilt our courage and destroy our lives. Or we can utilize the lessons from the mighty Sequoia reminding ourselves of the alternative choice. The choice to celebrate the scars that come, to utilize yesterday’s loss to encourage tomorrow’s growth, to let go of what we’ve been holding onto and to refuse trying to do it alone. Grow on. The best is yet to come.
Giant Sequoias triumph over the natural challenges that often kill other forest trees. For example, Giant Sequoias are drought resistant, disease resistant, insect resistant and fire resistant.
Giant Sequoias must annually absorb vast amounts of water. When a Giant Sequoia falls in the forest, witnesses say that a river of ice water pours out.
Giant Sequoias, like most other trees, grow as long as they live. Although upward growth usually is completed within the first 800 years of life, Sequoias continue to grow thicker throughout their long lives.
Sequoias are extremely fruitful. The average mature Giant Sequoia produces approximately 2,000 cones each year. Since there is an average of 200 seeds per cone, 400,000 seeds could be released from each tree each year. With an average of three mature trees per acre, over a million seeds are produced per acre per year in most Sequoia groves. The cone it produces is only the size of a chicken egg, with flat seeds about the size of a pinhead.
Giant Sequoias can provide food for themselves and others. The constant rain of bark, twigs, cones, and their subsequent decomposition by soil organisms maintains a dynamic balance by constantly returning nutrients to the soil.
Giant Sequoias can live a long time, but they are not immortal. Soft soils, heavy snows and root damage can unbalance a tree and cause it to eventually fall.
Sequoias naturally form partnerships -- they are interdependent and their well-being depends on reciprocal arrangement of services. Like most living organisms, the Giant Sequoia does not live alone; it is but one member of a complex association of plants and animals whose continued existence depends on interdependence of physical and living components. For example, the Giant Sequoia lacks the ability to drop its own cones; a mature Sequoia tree carries thousands of cones. These cones hang on a tree with its seeds sealed up for up to 20 years until something opens them. Two very small forest residents act as seed dispersing agents for the Giant Sequoia: the tiny, Long-horned Wood-boring Beetle and the Chickaree or Douglas Squirrel. The beetle and the Chickaree receive nourishment from the Giant Sequoia cones, and in exchange they assist the seeds to be released, greatly increasing the chances of Giant Sequoia reproduction. Interestingly, the Chickarees seem to prefer cones between two and five years old, while the beetle apparently prefers cones four years or older.
Giant Sequoias provide for future generations. After the death of a Giant Sequoia the tannin acts as a natural preservative which slows the decay process tremendously resulting in a slow-release of nutrients for literally thousands of years. In one case, scientists found a Giant Sequoia lying buried under sediment, undecayed for almost 10,000 years!
Even if you started life humbly as a small seed, with an adequate amount of challenges and trials, strong faith, association with the right people, proper nourishment and avoiding negativity in your thoughts, you can eventually grow to become a giant, mighty old tree like the Sequoia!
May 23, 2017