Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
– Jeremiah 17:7-8 New Living Translation
There’s a lot to look at while you are walking through a forest: birds, sunlight, leaves, and branches. But it’s worth thinking about what’s not so easy to see, the life that’s happening on a level too small and too slow for us to notice, underneath the forest floor.
Intertwined with the roots of the trees is a fascinating microscopic network of fungus. When we think of fungus in the forest, we are likely to imagine mushrooms growing at the base of a tree trunk. Those mushrooms are actually the “fruit” of the fungus. What we can’t see is the sprawling network of mycelium interwoven with the tree roots.
The majority of the fungal organism lives in the soil interwoven with tree roots as a vast network of mycelium. Mycelium are incredibly tiny “threads” of the fungal network that wrap around and bore into tree roots. Mycelium composes what’s called a “mycorrhizal network,” which connects individual plants together to transfer water, nitrogen, carbon and other minerals.
In healthy forests, each tree is connected to others through this network, enabling trees to share water and nutrients. For young trees growing in shady areas, there is not enough sunlight reaching their leaves for them to thrive. These young trees rely on nutrients from older, taller trees sent through the mycorrhizal network. It’s amazing to consider how God designed trees to share life together.
Do you know who else God designed to share life together? Disciples of Jesus. You, and me. We, too, have roots that aren’t visible to the naked eye. We, too, will wither and fail to thrive when we aren’t sharing life with others. We will be bothered by heat and worried by drought. Even worse, we may stop producing fruit. Like trees, we are built from the ground up to share life with each other. It’s true of all people, but it’s especially true for Jesus followers.
There are lots of ways to share life together in the Body of Christ. One of the ways that many have found to be an incredible blessing is to join a group. Church’s call them many different things: small groups, Sunday School, life groups, home groups, Bible study groups, and fellowship groups. At PTCUMC, we simply call them “groups” that gather various people in various settings for various purposes. You can learn more about Groups @ PTCUMC and sign up today at ptcumc.org/groups.
