Lessons From the Bamboo Tree

     The tallest growing plant in the world is the bamboo tree (which is not a tree at all; it's technically a grass). The average height of the bamboo tree is 15-40 feet; but some varieties can grow as high as 1,300 feet (that's 50 feet higher than the height of the Empire State Building!)

​     The bamboo tree is also the fastest growing plant in the world. It can grow up to three feet in 24 hours. The bamboo can also live for up to 120 years old in the wild. 

     One curious feature of the bamboo tree is its growth pattern. For instance, one variety of bamboo--the Chinese Bamboo Tree--only grows a few inches in the first five years. Then, sometime during the fifth year, it shoots up 90 feet in one week!

     Why is that?

     Because the bamboo is so tall and slender, it needs to have a very strong root system to get water and nutrients that high. Its extensive root system also keeps the bamboo from being uprooted in a storm.
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     For the first five years, nothing seems to be happening.  But, in reality, those early years are the most important years in the life of the bamboo. 

     When a tree has a root system that goes deep into the soil, it draws nourishment from depths that trees with shallow roots never experience. A tree whose roots go deep is more fruitful, has a more lush foliage, and stronger limbs.  

     But, unless you understood this growth pattern of the bamboo, you might become discouraged and assume that there is something wrong with the plant because it isn't growing.

     But it is growing! It's not growing UP, but it is growing DOWN.

     If you continue to grow downward and invest in a strong and deep root system, there will come a time when upward growth will take place--often rapidly and dramatically.

     Think of how God worked in the lives of His servants in scripture and you'll see how often this Principle of the Bamboo applies:

• MOSES spent 40 years in obscurity in the "backside of the desert," growing downward before God used Him to deliver His people. 
• PAUL the apostle, following his dramatic conversion, was not thrust into the limelight of Christian stardom. No TV interviews. No speaking conferences. No evangelism crusades. Paul spent at least three years in virtual obscurity in the desert of Arabia (possibly at Mount Sinai), where God revealed to him the gospel of grace.
• JESUS, Himself,  spent 30 years in obscurity in a small backwater town in Galilee being prepared by His Father and the Holy Spirit for His ministry of redeeming the human race. 

If you have been waiting for God to answer your prayer, to give you the desire of your heart or to release a greater measure of your ministry, don't lose heart. And don't give up. Remember the Lesson of the Bamboo Tree:

     The Key to Growing Up
          is Often Found by Growing Down!