Testimonies as Trees - Sharing Strength

In Elder Craig C. Christensen's talk, I Know These Things of Myself, he relates our testimonies to trees. Even the largest, strongest trees started as tiny seeds and frail saplings. So it is with our testimonies. They start small, but as we nourish them, they begin to grow. But though Elder Christensen encouraged constant nourishment of our testimonies, I thought to myself that isn't it true that trees eventually grow strong enough to take care of themselves? Perhaps there's not enough time in one lifetime for our testimonies to grow so strong that we no longer have need to improve them, but I think of trees as sturdy, towering, strong things. I'm probably thinking too much into this analogy, but I think that considering the strength of a fully-grown tree can help us as we perceive our testimonies.

When saplings are planted, they're often given stakes, vertical sticks about as tall as they are, to which they're tied for stability, but I think that once a tree has grown tall and strong, with deep roots and a sturdy trunk, if it were somehow still tethered to the stake, that would do more good for the stake's stability than the tree's. Perhaps that's how it can be with our testimonies. We need to strengthen our testimonies, but once they're sufficiently strong, they can also strengthen us. We may never reach the point where we no longer have to keep strengthening our testimonies, but we can, in this life, reach the point where we could safely lean on them.

Another awesome thing about trees is that some trees have roots that interlock with each other, allowing every tree to effectively lean on each other, receiving strength from each other. Elder Christensen said that we can't lean on others' testimonies forever - every tree needs its own roots - but if we interlock our roots, if we use our testimonies to strengthen each other, we will each be strengthened individually, and we'll all be strengthened as a whole.

Many people in our circle, possibly including ourselves, may have sapling testimonies right now, and certainly all of our testimonies could be stronger, but we can each lean on each other and hold each other up when we need to, and even once our testimonies are strong enough to stand up on their own, we can continue to strengthen and be strengthened by each other. Each tree is individual, but few trees stand alone. We can strengthen our testimonies to the point where they can strengthen us, and we can gain strength from others' testimonies and let them gain strength from ours. We're all one green, growing thicket of testimony, and we're growing stronger together.