Perhaps the Ribbono shel Olam created the phenomenon of the Chinese bamboo tree for the purpose of teaching us not to give up
H
ave you ever planted tomato seeds and eagerly waited for the first signs of growth? Have you ever planted apple or orange seeds and anxiously waited for the shoots to break through the ground?
Tomato seeds begin sprouting in six to eight days; trees take longer to show evidence of growth. Apple tree seedlings will begin to push through the soil’s surface after about four weeks, while orange tree seeds will sprout after about six weeks.
When the seedlings have grown three feet (which can take between six months and several years), they enter the sapling stage and continue to grow taller and taller, until they eventually reach full maturity and produce fruit or flowers.
There’s a certain type of tree that doesn’t follow the above pattern: the Chinese bamboo tree. It doesn’t break through the ground until five years after it was planted. During those five years, it needs to be watered every day, since it’s building an intricate system of roots deep in the ground. After five long years, it finally breaks through the ground, and an amazing thing happens. The tree grows to 90 feet tall in a mere five weeks!
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