Finding Strength and Support Within Community
Would you believe that this entire forest came from the same single seedling? This is an aspen forest, which typically grow in large clonal colonies. Roots from the parent tree spread out and shoots of new trees appear all around, continuing to do so year after year.
Above ground one would see a deep forest filled with hundreds, possibly thousands of trees. Beneath the earth however there is one single root system connecting each seemingly individual tree back to the original parent making it one organism potentially miles deep and acres wide.
These are ancient forests with a support system that can stretch back millennia. Should a forest fire strike, the aspen grove has no fear of annihilation. Above the surface the fire ravages its victims. However, underneath the roots run deep and, after some time young shoots will begin to break through the surface once again returning what the fire stole.
What may look like a young forest of saplings coming up through the ground actually would still be hundreds, up to thousands, of years old because the actual root of the tree doesn’t perish deep beneath the earth.
Much like an aspen forest, the roots of a safe, trustworthy, and loving community run deep and span generations and years. Each person in the community stems from the one who invited him in. Sometimes malevolent forces may overtake the community creating chaos and destruction, appearing to wipe it out completely. But the roots of love run deep and wide. Beneath the destruction, deep within the nurturing village, there lies our heritage, our faith, our hope, our connection to each other, and our love of life.
Posted by Thaddeus Heffner, LMFT July 24, 2013