Sequoia Trees
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007A friend of mine gave me a riddle over breakfast recently… It went something like this…
Picture a giant sequoia tree. Huge… full of life. It towers over the forest, and gives birth to many hundreds of other great tree-lives in the surrounding area. You can tunnel through such a tree - it’s big enough to steer a truck right through - and it still thrives. You could tell the tale of modern history if you could examine it’s great trunk and growth rings. So… The question is - if you had no power tools or blades… nothing but your own self - how could you kill such a tree?
I thought about what the answer could be. I cannot control the weather - so I could not arrange to cause a deep drought. Even so, the roots of the giant sequoia go so low into the earth, that it finds life-sustaining water far beneath the surface. I could not block the sun… I cannot create a great wind - and even if I could, a sequoia would withstand any fierce gale. So, how could one kill such a strong, great life?
The answer? When it was young. You could stroll by the forest floor and pluck out a sequoia “seedling” with the smallest of efforts.
And, so it is with the riddle of our great lives. The Sower has spread good seed upon the earth; while the enemy of our souls attempts his best work - his most destructive ways - upon our youth. Abuse them… discourage them… tell them they are worthless… addict them… spoil them… distract them - while they are young. So many young people will never reach the strength and height of God’s great ”sequoia” plan for their lives, because they were snatched from greatness while they were yet, young.