By JIM NICHOLS

The text message read, “It has been raining so much that we cannot work; the ground is too wet. You are still on our list.”

After a few drier days, the workers arrived in a short caravan. Two pickup trucks joined a larger truck with a trailer containing the “chipper” that seemed to operate like an ultimate murder device from a horror movie. With amazing agility, the men climbed into the trees (always carrying whirring chain saws) and cut off branches that fell to the ground. Others cut lower branches in both the front and back yards. Each branch was fed into the chipper and promptly and loudly digested into debris that was shot into the back of the larger truck. Even a tree-climbing child would have been impressed with these grown men up high plus the mechanics of the entire process.

It was indeed time for the trees to be trimmed. There were a few dead branches and others that were reaching the roof. Better to get them off now than wait for more problems. After a day or two of visual adjustment by us, the whole yard appeared cleaner and brighter. We were pleased.

An unexpected thing happened within the next few days, however. It makes sense now in retrospect, and even caused me to consider a spiritual application.

On subsequent evenings strong winds blew. More than one morning, I had to retrieve rather large branches on the ground under the trees. These branches did not have cut separations; they had been torn from the tree by the winds. They had not been cut off by the workers on the previous day. The loss of these additional branches has not continued; it occurred for a few days and then ended.

My conclusion is that the tree trimmers had removed branches that were, in effect, protecting other branches from the wind. That is, the tree was acting as a unit and when some of the pieces of the unit were removed, that exposed other pieces to the elements. The branches were connected to the same trunk, but they were also connected to one other in a complicated network. In many cases they touched each other.

Trees (and vines) have played notable roles in human history and in scripture. Genesis starts out with a focus on trees of various kinds and purposes and Revelation ends with a similar emphasis. In the 15^th chapter of the book of John there is a well-known story about vines. That story parallels other tree and vine stories with primarily warning information. The emphasis is that branches not bearing fruit will be cut off.

The secondary point we should not miss, however, is that the vine connects the branches to itself and to each other. The branches are small players that depend on their mutual connection to the trunk and the shared root system.

Biologically, we see an additional example of this dependence in certain trees (such as aspen) that have not only a network of deep roots, but also long lateral roots. From these laterals sprout completely new trees occupying a space near the original tree. The fascinating biologic result is that trees produced in this way are genetically alike. Not only are branch systems interdependent, but also root systems, at least in this case. It is a great biologic phenomenon.

There are many illustrations in scripture of the importance of the community of God’s people. They get into trouble together and they are blessed together. They face community consequences of their decisions and then live in shared forgiveness, grace, and care from God.

The parallel to be noted is that believers are the branches connected not only to the Holy Trunk, but consequently connected to one another because of that common trunk. We, as branches, are called not only to produce good fruit, but also to shield each other from the winds of life. We have all experienced how a loss in our community has troubling effects on us. Those are the winds that are always around us. We are not genetically identical like an aspen grove, but we are spiritually alike because we share the same root structure and branch interdependence.

Jim Nichols is a retired Abilene Christian University biology professor and current hospice chaplain