Springing Up

The tree in Lehi’s dream was in a specific location. People had to physically move to the tree in order to partake of the fruit, which filled their souls with joy (1 Nephi 8:12).

Nephi learned that the tree represents the love of God, and he equated the tree with “the fountain of living waters,” conjuring an image of pure water pouring from the base of the tree (1 Nephi 11:25). Both Nephi and Lehi saw people holding an iron rod, representing the word of God, which led to the tree and the fountain.

Hundreds of years later, the prophet Alma again evoked the symbolism of the tree of life, but in a new setting. Addressing a group of people who were excluded from their house of worship, he urged them to plant the word of God in their hearts and nourish it. He promised them that if they did so with diligence, patience, and faith, eventually the seed would grow, “and behold,” he said, “it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life” (Alma 32:41; see also Alma 33:23).

I’m not sure what it means for a tree to “spring up,” but it sounds like something living, vibrant, and growing.

Jesus used the same words as He offered “living water” to a woman at a well in Samaria: “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again,” He observed.

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 4:14

In August 1831, the Savior reissued this promise to a group of church leaders in Kirtland, Ohio:

Unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life.

Doctrine and Covenants 63:23

Putting all of these passages together, I get the following message: Plant the word of God in your heart, and strive to live by it. You will not only taste God’s love; it will grow in your heart and become a source of joy and grace wherever you may be.

Today, I will visualize the tree of life as a source of God’s love that can grow in my heart. I will see it not only as a source of divine sustenance but as a fountain of living water, blessing me and those around me, lifting us closer to God.