We had a great experience on Sunday evening! On Friday evening a crew arrived in a special truck and proceeded to set up a lot of equipment in preparation for a worldwide CES Broadcast featuring Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy. On Sunday afternoon Dan received teleprompter training and some makeup and hosted a reception for Elder Jensen and his wife on the Mormon Center patio to which were invited Area Authorities, the temple president and stake presidents and their wives. Then at 5:00 sharp the Broadcast began with Dan conducting and introducing the speaker.
It was great to meet and learn more about Elder Jensen and his wife!
He gave a marvelous talk about the trees in the Sacred Grove and the lessons to be learned there.
He explained that a professional Forester and Naturalist, Robert Parrot, has been hired by the church to take care of the Sacred Grove.
Lesson #1: TREES ALWAYS GROW TOWARD THE LIGHT
It is interesting to see crooked branches trying to reach for the light.
I love when he told us that the words: light, spirit, truth, and Jesus Christ are almost always together in the scriptures.
Lesson #2: TREES REQUIRE OPPOSITION TO FILL THE MEASURE OF THEIR CREATION
In one small test area of the grove they conducted "release thinning." They identified the the largest and healthiest of the younger trees and cut out and pruned out the less promising trees. Without competition for water, sun and soil the trees were released to grow in extra ways. After several years the opposite happened.
Freed of competition, they became complacent and instead of stretching up, they slowed their vertical growth and put out lower limbs that would be useless and they also just became fatter.
And the trees that were removed, re-sprouted as multi-stemmed bushes which never became trees but took water and nutrients. They competed with the chosen trees but not in a positive way that would help either of them. The result was poor compared to the trees left to grow naturally that had to overcome opposition.
Opposition can work to our benefit producing character and spiritual growth. People like trees need opposition.
Lesson #3: TREES ARE BEST GROWN IN FORESTS, NOT IN ISOLATION
It is unusual to see a solitary tree. They usually grow in groves and forests.
The Sacred Grove is much more than a forest. It is a complicated ecosystem of fungi, moss, trees, wildflowers, bushes, shrubs, birds, rabbits, deer and rodents that are inter-connected and rely on each other for food and shelter and have a synergistic sociality where they all experience the cycle of life.
We work out our salvation together. The church builds meetinghouses not hermitages.
Healthy trees need each other and we do too!
Lesson #4: TREES DRAW STRENGTH FROM THE NUTRIENTS CREATED BY PREVIOUS GENERATIONS OF TREES
At one time, those in charge wanted a well groomed appearance, so they had service
projects to clear limbs, undergrowth, stumps and dead leaves. The vitality of the Grove began to
diminish. The result was tree growth was
slower, fewer new trees sprouted and some species of plants and flowers began
to disappear.
Then Brother Parrott took over and returned it
to a state as natural as possible.
Things were left to decompose and enrich the soil, visitors were asked
to stay on marked pathways and within a few years, the grove began to
regenerate and renew in remarkable ways and is now flourishing in a near
pristine state with lush vegetation and an abundance of wildlife.
(Here is a picture we took last year in the Sacred Grove)
We should collect stories and pass them from one generation to another.
Conclusion: THE WITNESS TREES
There are three trees still standing that Brother Parrot has determined were alive 192 years ago in 1820. What did they witness that beautiful spring morning?
Elder Jensen then bore his witness of the truths of the gospel.
It was a wonderful experience!
And just to prove I was there. (A story this decomposing tree can pass down!)
