Mark Berry remembers the inspiring story of 'The Man Who Planted Trees' and what it can teach us about grace, innovation and hope for the future.
Just over 15 years ago the Church of England launched the Mission Shaped Ministry (MSM) course nationally. It had been born in Lincolnshire 10 years before that, when a group of leaders began a conversation about how the whole Church could be mobilised to start churches that would be effective in mission. I’m sure many of you reading this will have participated in MSM, some of you like me, many times!
There was a video that was used during the course, an animated film which illustrated the famous tale written by Jean Giono, “The Man Who Planted Trees”. The story takes place in the foothills of the French Alps. The narrator meets a shepherd, Elzéard Bouffier, who has taken on the task of planting one hundred acorns a day to reforest his desolate region. Despite the occurrence of two world wars, the shepherd continues his work. Over time, his efforts lead to the transformation of the region; life and vegetation return, and the environment is renewed. The story is based on what is believed to be an ancient Greek proverb:
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
We live in a very results-based culture. Everything has to be measured and evaluated and its outcomes recorded and quantified. Everything is subject to timescales and targets. All very important when resources are meagre and finances are stretched! We need to be good stewards of course. But, the tale of The Man Who Planted Trees offers a different perspective, one which is still focused on an outcome, but which recognises that change may take more time than our haste might allow.
Whilst the old man plants his acorns, the world swirls; two world wars, devastation, culture change. Powers come and go, seasons wax and wane and on he goes, planting one seed at a time. A gardener knows that plants take time to become established, an apple tree may take between four and eight years before it begins to produce fruit.
The Man Who Planted Trees is not a parable about patience. Rather it is a story about hope. Bouffier knows he will not see the results of his labour - he even risks the possibility that another will come and cut down the trees! But, he continues to plant, because he has a vision for a changed and renewed landscape. He has to hold on to the hope that those who come after him will not only enjoy the landscape his persistence has created, but that they will continue to nurture and care for it. Maybe, he hopes that his work will inspire others to pick up a shovel and a bag of acorns and plant their own forest?
Elzéard Bouffier was a pioneer, an innovator, if we adopt the language of Rogers' bell curve (above). He was willing to take risks and invest everything he had into the change he believed and hoped in. Greenhouse has its roots in the same soil that saw MSM emerge. Indeed, it maybe that without MSM, Greenhouse would not have grown. Just as those good Lincolnshire folk could not have predicted the Mission Shaped Ministry report, the Fresh Expressions Movement or Greenhouse itself, we cannot know what will grow from the vision we have and the seeds we have planted, that is in the hands of others and God… but still we plant.
The Man Who Planted Trees