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Good morning,

This week I’ve noticed catkins growing on the alder trees that border our garden. There was no sign of them at all last week so it’s like they’ve met up secretly in the night and decided, it is Spring and time to then to flourish once again. Maybe that nocturnal gathering is not so very far from the truth.

In recent years I’ve been fascinated by the science behind what author Peter Wohlleben has called The Hidden Lives of Trees and what is popularly called the Wood Wide Web. This is the discovery that the ground beneath our feet is actually a complex matrix of roots, fungi and bacteria all helping to connect trees and plants to one another, allowing them to share nutrients, water, chemical signals and warning signs of approaching danger. It’s like the whole forest is conscious of their need to connect to one another, if they are to flourish.

We must be careful not to read too much into this phenomenon as a metaphor for human relationships and community well-being, but even so, maybe Jesus was onto something when he picked a similar image for human flourishing. ‘I am the vine’ he said, suggesting that each of us could be like branches, sharing in a matrix of spiritual and emotional encouragement. Staying rooted in God and connected to one another is exactly how we might grow in the important human experiences of love, joy and peace, patience, kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It’s no wonder the Christian church names these virtues as the fruit of the Spirit.

If such positive characteristics are to ripen within us and then be shared between us, maybe there’s a lesson to be learned from the hidden lives of trees.

God of the vine and the branches
hold us together
in the woodlands of your love
and let today be the Springtime of our flourishing.
Amen