“I believe almost any tree can grow out of a rock, given the right conditions. I’ve certainly seen enough of them. In my part of the world, I’ve seen just about every type of tree doing this. Generally the seed must find a little nook to become established, with water and a little soil. The root will break the rock apart, allowing the root to find the soil underneath or behind the rock.” Joy Keiffer, author of The Garden Journal ………………………………………………………………………. Sometimes I feel like an arborist trying to cultivate fruit trees in rock. Or maybe I’m just grinding out little nooks in rocks so a seed can find a toehold. 

The topic of trees came up today and I had the opportunity to talk about Westerhoff’s faith formation model using the metaphor of rings of a tree….and to talk about the tree metaphors in the Bible…the oaks of righteousness and the groves of cedars…..and how each reflects types of relationship we have with God or with other people in faith community. I’ve written a number of blog posts about trees. They never cease to fascinate me.

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