Do You Pando?

A lone aspen tree is a rare sight to see.

I found out this week that planting an aspen and getting it to grow is a task even most horticulturalists are hesitant to attempt. Aspens were never meant to be alone. They are the prime example of a pack animal (or in this case, a pack tree). That’s because unlike most trees that drop seeds down to repopulate, the aspen prefers sending shoots up.

The tree lover that plants an aspen and successfully gets it to thrive soon finds he doesn’t have an aspen tree – he has an aspen grove! Shoots will start coming up in unexpected places: the flowerbed, the sidewalk, the drive way, the neighbor’s yard, your home’s foundation… like an intergalactic battleship in a Star Wars movie, the tree just keeps sending out drones to more and more distant locations in an attempt to locate the droids we were looking for (or, for the aspen, the photosynthesis it is looking for). Once it takes root, the spread is virtually unstoppable. Digging up the mother tree doesn’t halt the expansion. You would need to eradicate the whole chain, but the root system and offspring of a single aspen can go on for miles and miles.

The Pando forest in Utah is proof of that. “Pando” is Latin for “I spread”, and boy! Has this forest spread! This quaking aspen forest is the product of a single parent tree and spans 106 acres. Weighing an estimated 13 million pounds, and containing 47,000 trees, it’s the largest single massive living organism known on earth.

The shared root system works to support all the trees connected to it. The mature trees provide nourishment to the new shoots under the canopy, where photosynthesis is weak. The entwined roots hold the older trees in place, enforcing their stability. If one part of the system is damaged by wildfires, the rest send out new shoots to start new life.

And it all started thousands of years ago with a single tree.

Sounds a lot like Christianity, doesn’t it?

The Christian phenomenon can be traced back to one event in time: the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. A small handful of men and women began telling others about Jesus and word spread. Even when followers were martyred, the word spread. The root system had shot out beyond the boarders of its Jerusalem origin. Offspring were multiplying and taking the message into surrounding areas and to other nations: Ethiopia, Rome, Macedonia, Asia Minor… It was impossible to eradicate as the movement spread like wildfire. Today, roughly 2000 years later, Christianity is found worldwide.

Like the aspen’s root system, fellow Christians not only spread new shoots, but they also spiritually feed and nurture one another, lending support, encouragement and knowledge. We are connected to a common root system.

A lone Christian – a true Christian- is a not a rare sight to see. It’s nonexistent.

We were never meant to be alone. We are truly pack animals. We were meant to be Pando. We were meant to spread.

And repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47