I love trees. There, I said it. And I mean it. I have always loved trees, even before I had a very significant reason to…but that’s a story I’ll get to in a minute. So why do I love trees? There are so many reasons. To start with, they are just beautiful. I love their form and structure, even in all the many variations they come. I love that they are held by strong roots that are hidden beneath the ground. I love that they stand up tall, stretching their branches towards the sky. I love the beauty of the delicate leaves that fill those branches, each one exquisite in its own right, but together create a symphony. And I love that even when all those leaves are gone, they leave the promise and hope of return.

When God created trees, however, there was so much more to His design than just adding beauty to the world. Trees also have incredible function. They contribute to the environment by providing oxygen and improving air quality. They help conserve water, preserve soil and support wildlife. Trees give us the tools we need to survive and to live.

Yet, beyond their beauty and their vital function, trees also represent key truths in God’s Word. They represent life and growth. Trees demonstrate worship, as they lift their “arms” to heaven. Their roots speak to believers being firmly planted in righteousness and truth, bearing fruit for God’s Kingdom. Trees represent everything that we are meant to be in the Lord–beautiful, grounded, strong, and fruitful. Like it says in Isaiah 61:3, my heart desires to be an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

So for all these reasons, trees have always been so meaningful to me. But then in 2010, the Lord made trees more significant and personal to me than I could have imagined, and it came in the form of a song called, “Family Tree.” Written by Christian music artist, Matthew West, “Family Tree” is a song about the gift of a new legacy each of us receives when we come to Christ. No matter what background someone comes from, no matter how dysfunctional one’s family or environment was through their childhood, the song proclaims freedom from the repetition of broken cycles and broken family trees. Jesus “breaks the chains that bind you” and “brings new life to your family tree.” What a powerful and beautiful truth for every believer, especially those, like me, who came from deeply broken homes. “Family Tree” is a song that not only relates to my life, it is a song about my life, specifically and personally.

In 2010, Matthew West wrote an album called, “The Story of Your Life,” and in that album wrote songs about the lives of listeners who wrote in to share their stories of redemption in the Lord. I was one of the listeners who wrote to tell what God has done in their lives, and out of the 10,000 stories he received for that album, Matthew chose mine. He shared with me later that he specifically had been praying about including a story about renewed legacy in Christ, and then he read mine. So he wrote the song, “Family Tree” from my story and about my life. What a precious gift that was for me–not just the experience of being included in something so exciting and all that went along with it (another story for another time), but the incredible opportunity to have my story be used to minister to others and give them hope. It is that I am most thankful for. But the icing on top of it all is the tree! Not only is the song called “Family Tree,” and uses the beautiful symbolism of the tree, but the album icon for my song is the picture of a tree. The Lord is good, and I love trees.