Fire Scars

I’ve learned to rethink how I see the challenges and personal “fire” that I go through by observing the potentially productive influence of physical fire as I walk through the redwood forests. Redwood trees are naturally fire-resistant because of their thick, fibrous bark that protects the trees. But, when fires sweep through redwood groves, they leave a mark on the trees that can still be found centuries later. The fire often doesn’t kill the tree and can actually make it stronger, but the scar will always be there. What can we learn from redwood fire scars?

Dr. Lee Klinger writes about what happens to the redwoods with massive fire scars:

What the native people also seemed to know is that if you set a very hot fire next to the trunk, and severely scorch and kill the cambium layer, the scar tissue that forms is thick and bulky, and it spreads out at the base. After a number of years the tissue growing next to the fire scar organizes to become an important stabilizing structure of the tree. In other words in redwoods, no fire scars = no flared bases, fire scars = flared bases. Think Eiffel Tower vs. Tower of Pisa. Fire also improves the nutrient content of soil and tree. Just as in building strong bones, calcium is needed to build strong wood.

The National Park Service has a good description of why Coastal Redwoods are so resistant to death from pests and from fire. The trees contain tannins that protect them from pests, and have thick bark, and do not contain resin like more flammable trees, such as pine trees. What is in the tree, what the tree is made of, and what covers it all goes in to how well it makes it through the inevitable fires that comes its way.

When there is a fire, it will leave a scar that the tree then incorporates into its history. When a redwood is cut, you can see the fire scar in its rings, see when the fire happened, and see how the tree grew around the fire damage and kept going. You can also measure the wet years and dry years from the width of the rings.

There are obviously many applications for our own lives. We all have been through fires that leave a mark on our memory and our souls. Those marks remain and are incorporated into our lives, changing us. I have been through a lot of “fires” myself over the years. But, the question for us when we go through these things is “what comes next?”

The Redwoods are called “eternal trees” because they keep going. The fire scars become part of who they are, but finding their lives intertwined together with other redwoods in groves with interlocking roots, they keep going and keep growing. They soak in the moisture from the fog and give to and receive nutrients from the forest. They point to heaven in worship and cause the eyes of all who see them to look up. They do this bearing scars, but the fires that brought the scars became just a mark on a much longer journey.

 As I’ve been through things personally – sickness, death of loved ones, relational and emotional trials, set-backs, failures, and opposition, I’ve been tempted to let the “fire” I was going through define me. I think we all face that temptation. It seems all encompassing in the moment. And, even after, the burning smell lingers. We tend to think that the fire and its effects is all there is. But, the redwoods have taught me that the fires that seem so devastating at the time are just a mark in a much longer journey that keeps going. Can we grow again? Can we incorporate what we’ve learned and grow new rings and grow new bark and be a shelter and refuge for others? Can we point up to what’s ahead instead of letting the fire be the end? The redwoods say that there is a future after the fire and though the fires of our lives inform us, they do not dictate what comes next. That story is yet to be told.

 As we walk through the Redwood forests, we listen, watch, learn, and observe what God is saying to us through creation. There is a reason that people have walked into these forests and have looked up, their souls stirred to contemplation and worship. I’ve come to believe that God speaks to us through his creation in unique ways as he calls us to “consider” what they might be saying to us.

The question for us is, “Are we listening?”

~Alan Cross