Branch

In January 2024, I moved to Camano Island in Washington. It has been an amazing experience thus far as I can go to the beach daily due to the commute being only 5 minutes away from home. I walk trails to pass the time and have frequently seen trees growing from trunks that are curved and deformed at the base but eventually straighten out as the trunk ascends. This puzzled me because I had never seen this phenomena before and was perplexed about how this came to be. After further research, I learned this phenomenon is called “soil creep.” Soil creep is the imperceptibly slow, steady, downward movement of slope-forming soil. Movement is caused by shear stress sufficient to produce permanent deformation but too small to produce shear failure. Creep is indicated by curved tree trunks, bent fences, retaining walls, or even gravestones that are specifically on a hill or slope. This affects the tree because the soil moves more quickly on the surface than deeper down. Because of this, more soil pushes the tree at ground level than below, gradually tilting the tree. To compensate, trees will put on thicker growth - wider rings- on the downhill side, slowly changing the angle of the trunk to regain an upright posture. Eventually, the roots grow deep and strong enough that the soil can no longer tilt the tree. At this point, the growth will even out to correct the angle, and the curve will straighten out. The different curves and formations of the trunk can differentiate based on many factors, such as the tree's age, how steep the hill is, or the amount of stress the trunk can sustain. Stick with me; I’m going somewhere with this!

Likewise, after deep thought, family trees comprise the same concept. A family tree is a visual or metaphorical representation of a family’s genealogy, sometimes displayed on a chart representing family relationships in a conventional tree structure. In the Modern Era, according to the US Census Bureau, one in every six children lives with a half-sibling, meaning that full siblings have 50% genes with one another and half-siblings have 25%. Families are finding the value in knowing familial heritage and passing this knowledge down between generations. Families are able to use sites such as ancestry.com, MyHeritage, or 23 and me to trace back to their origins to discover everything from the nationality of origin and long-lost relatives to hereditary ailments or mental health disorders. As this relates to spirituality, as sin has washed over the world like a title wave, generational curses are quite possibly the cause of bad fruit within many bloodlines; if a family foundation is not rooted in God, then the foundation becomes movable and dynamic causing stress to the entire family line and creating a deformation in the strongest part of the family tree, its trunk.

Assyria would be a tree cut down at the height of its greatness, never to rise again. Judah, David's royal line, would be like a tree chopped down to the base of the trunk. But from the stump, a new shoot would grow - the Messiah. He would be greater than the original tree, straight and strong, free from deformation, and bear plenty of good fruit. The Messiah, our Branch, is the fulfillment of God’s promise that a descendant of David would rule forever.

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

Isaiah 11:1

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot - yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

Isaiah 11:1