I was at a conference this week and, at the close of the day, one presenter made an aside about a particular species of Chinese bamboo and how it grows. It was just an aside, but suddenly I was curious. I went looking for more information when I got home to see if there was anything of substance in the aside. I soon came across videos about this species of Chinese bamboo known as Phyllostachys edulis. This species is very slow growing during the first five years from planting. Seeds are planted and watered and fertilised in the first year. No green shoots break through the earth in that season. In the second year, that patch with the seeds continues to be watered and fertilised, but still no green shoots appear. In the third year the same thing happens – watering and fertilising, but no green shoots to be seen. The fourth year is the same, too. Apparently, nothing is happening despite all the watering and fertilising going on. Then towards the end of the fifth season green shoots suddenly break through the surface of the earth and begin to rapidly grow - sometimes as much as a metre in a single day.
In six weeks the bamboo has grown to 30 metres or more – the height of an 8-story building.
This amazed me and it also spoke to me, and so I kept researching. During those first five years, the bamboo plant is mainly developing its roots and underground “rhizome network”. Once the root system is fully developed and strong enough, the bamboo will begin to shoot up rapidly. This is because the plant has stored enough energy in its root system to support such rapid growth. In addition, the bamboo has been able to establish a deep water and nutrient-rich network that allows it to support such explosive growth. When the bamboo “shoots” come out of the ground they are already at full diameter.
Now think about that for a moment. All that watering and nourishing for five years, all the tending and labouring with nothing apparently going on and then, at the designated time, amazing and powerful growth. When the plant finally breaks the surface, after five years of seeing nothing, it then takes off. As Patrick Schwerdtfeger, the commentator in one of the videos I viewed, said, “This is an amazing metaphor for life.” I agree.
Our discipleship journey can seem at times as if nothing is really happening. We can feel as if we are investing and tending and nourishing with the spiritual disciplines of prayer, reading God’s Word, fellowshipping and learning, and tithing and serving with other Christ-followers, but not a lot is happening. The return in investment might seem frustratingly disappointing. Well, I want to assure you that something wonderful, is indeed, happening even if you cannot see it.
The DNA in that bamboo plant knows exactly what to do – it is working to a specific genetic code set in place by the Creator. And so, we who are tending and nourishing the DNA that is in us as born agains with all the right nutrients, can be confident that our Creator knows what He is doing with what He has set in place. We know that there will come times of amazing growth. We can be …
Philippians 1:6 (NIV) “… confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
… and, also …
Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV) Therefore, my dear friends … continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
The bamboo plantation farmers know from experience that this is the way that Phyllostachys edulis works. They know from experience that in those first years, unseen, a root system is being built and is going deep. They know a foundation for growth is being set up so that what grows on that foundation won’t be ripped out of the soil when the storms hit. Once you have a strong foundation, you can grow quickly.
This takes discipline for disciples – a word we love to hate sometimes. But, discipline is the environment we create in our discipleship walk. Into that environment we add water and nutrients – daily time with Holy Spirit, worship, prayer and personal consecration, daily time in the Word of God learning and applying, fellowship with other believers and so on. And, all the while deep roots are growing that will be able to support strong energetic growth. Sometimes, as for the bamboo farmers, the labour seems mundane and tiring, perhaps, even disappointing, but we know from these verses here in Philippians that God is at work, unseen – and we can be confident of what is coming. He has set in us the DNA of Christ’s righteousness. It knows what to do with the water and fertiliser we give it. The righteousness DNA is the beginning of abundance.
Hebrews 12:11 (NIV) “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Galatians 6:9 (NLT) “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
This is so encouraging! Keep going. Don’t give up. Keep watering. Keep fertilising. God is at work – and growth is surely coming. One more scripture here (while I am on a roll) that will now make more sense to you …
Matthew 6:33 (NIV) “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
I hope this speaks to you as it has spoken to me. Be encouraged.
Ps. Milton
[Sources: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arLieu6sMLc; www.quora.com; Ambient, BLOG by Emma M, April, 2018]