Sequoia Trees and Marriage

Many years ago Don took me out to see the giant sequoia trees in California.  They are absolutely amazing! We were stunned by their magnificent beauty and soaring heights! We stared in wonder at these giant trees that can stand at over 200 feet tall and have diameters of 30 to 35 feet at their base. Some of these sequoia trees are close to 2,000 years old! Wow! I’d like to share a few sequoia facts with you and encourage you in your marriage.    

 All sequoia trees begin as tiny seeds on the forest floor. Actually, it would take 91,000 sequoia seeds to make one pound.  That’s a tiny seed!  Thinking back to the start of our marriage in August 1989, it makes me smile to think of our small beginnings.  We found lots of new discoveries about one another…and about ourselves! Some of those discoveries were fun (we get to sleep together!) and some were not so fun (I don’t know how to cook!). After all of these years, we’ve learned alot about each other, love and life.  Take some time with your spouse to reflect on your own beginnings.  What was exciting?  What was something difficult? Talk about how you’ve grown together.

Sequoia trees have very thick bark.  Some trees have bark as thick as 2 feet!  Also, sequoia bark doesn’t contain flammable resin. The deep exterior of bark, along with the absence of flammable pitch, provides the tree with powerful protection against forest fires. In marriage, how do you grow a thick, non-flammable bark?  Some things that we have done in our own marriage are lean into Jesus and His Word, show grace to one another, build trust with one another, and laugh together. By doing these things, we’ve built a strong “bark” around our relationship. Talk together about creating protective “bark” in your own marriage.    

 In Yosemite National Park you can visit a giant sequoia called “The Faithful Couple”.  Its base diameter is 40 feet. It looks like one tree at the base, but it is actually 2 separate trees that have fused together over hundreds of years! The Faithful Couple began as two separate seedlings on the forest floor.  As each seedling grew in diameter and strength over the years they literally touched and began fusing together as one tree.  Today they are so intertwined that water absorbed by the roots of one may be making food for the other.  What a beautiful picture of growing stronger together! May God make each of us like “The Faithful Couple” in Yosemite!

“Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be!” ~ Robert Browning