Trees have always fascinated me. Drop me off at an arboretum, and I’ll wander happily for hours. I have three favorite trees in my backyard: a huge blue spruce, a red maple, and an aspen. (They were actually the determining factor in buying this property.) My front yard is lined with linden trees, while my side yard is home to thornless honey locusts.
Did you know trees go through an amazing process to prepare for winter in colder climates? They know when to begin this process by the length of daylight. We know it has begun when the leaves start to fall. All those bags of leaves we rake up each autumn are part of the tree’s strategy to prevent water loss. But that’s only the beginning of its preparation for winter.
Starches within the tree are converted into sugars, creating a natural antifreeze. These sugars lower the freezing point of the liquid inside the tree’s cells. While this is happening, water is drawn out of the cells and moves into the spaces between them. This prevents the cells themselves from freezing and allows the tree to withstand extreme subzero temperatures. Amazing!
When I think about how God created trees with this astounding ability, I’m humbled by the intricacies of our own human bodies. We are not only complex physical beings, but we are also uniquely created with different features, temperaments, and personalities. Even identical twins do not have identical fingerprints because those tiny ridges are formed in the womb through factors such as slight fluctuations in amniotic fluid pressure and differences in the babies’ positions and movements.
If God took such care in designing trees to survive the harshest winters, how much more care did He take in creating you and me?
When we consider these wonders of creation, how can we not believe in God?
Psalm 139, in The Message translation of the Bible, plainly tells us of God’s involvement in creating us:
You shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother’s womb.
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
you know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
It seems He knew exactly what He was doing with trees—and with me.
Until next time, keep on readin’, and I’ll keep on writin’.