Grow Tall and Strong

Redwood trees in California

Where I grew up in California, it was handy to visit the redwood forests.  Curiously, the Thursday evening temple coordinator in Guayaquil is Walter Redwood.  He is 100% Ecuatoriano, has never seen a redwood tree, and furthermore, he is very short, but wears a size 50 jacket; very different from a redwood tree.

 This tree is 369 feet tall (twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty).  Another tree in the same forest is 379 feet tall, but only temporarily.  "Its mass is equivalent to 15 adult blue whales, the largest animal on earth. Each year, this tree produces enough new wood to make a 90-foot-tall tree with a trunk 12 inches in diameter. If all of Del Norte Titan were cut into boards one foot wide, 12 feet long and one inch thick, the line of planks laid end to end would stretch over a hundred miles and could build 120 average-sized houses."

It looks tall and slim, but it is very, very big around.  What I remember about these trees of interest, is that they grow in rocky soil with short roots.  They stand for over 1,000 years because their roots reach out to each other and intertwine.  They hold each other up!

Grow tall, but "see that ye are not lifted up unto pride; yea, see that ye do not boast in your own wisdom, nor of your much strength. Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love... Alma 38:11, 12

Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.  Psalms 68:34, 118:14, 18:32, 28:7

Your greatest strength is in your marriage:
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwHmjd70cso