Tend What You Can't See

Can I be honest with you about something? Most of us spend a lot of energy tending to what everyone can see — our results, our accomplishments, our outward progress. But what if the most important work you could be doing right now is the work that nobody sees?

In this episode of Becoming the Oak, I'm continuing the metaphor that has become the heartbeat of everything I teach. In Episode 13, we talked about the soil — the heart — and how we prepare it to receive the seed. Today, I want to take you one step further into the process of becoming and talk about what grows from that soil: the roots, the trunk, the branches, and ultimately, the fruit.

Becoming is not a moment. It's a process. And we don't jump from an acorn to an oak in a matter of days. It's a lifetime. So let's be patient with it — and intentional about tending what we can't always see.

In this episode:

• Why your roots — your covenant relationship with God — are the most neglected and most critical part of your growth

• The vole story: why what's visible on the outside doesn't always tell the truth about what's happening below

• How your goals (the trunk) are only as strong as the roots they grow from — and what covenant-grounded goals actually look like

• Why gratitude is one of the most powerful and underutilized root-strengthening tools we have — and Corrie ten Boom's stunning example from a concentration camp

• Two simple places to start right now: a particle of faith (Alma 32:27) and abounding in thanksgiving (Colossians 2:7)

Everything about Becoming the Oak is a metaphor for growth. And when I look at this process — the soil, the seed, the roots, the trunk, the branches, the fruit — what strikes me most is how every single part feeds off the one before it.

If the soil isn't good, the seed struggles. If the seed struggles, the roots can't develop. If the roots don't develop, the trunk has nothing to build from. And if the trunk isn't strong? The branches can't grow. And without branches, there is no fruit.

This is why I need us to slow down and stop skipping straight to the fruit.

So what are the roots? As I've studied and prayed about this, I've come to understand that our roots represent our covenant relationship with God — those promises we make with our Heavenly Father that anchor us to something that the world cannot see and cannot shake.

"The prevailing challenge in choosing a covenant relationship with God is that the world overvalues what it can see and undervalues what is not seen." — Elder Shumway, Simplicity That Is in Christ

That quote stopped me in my tracks. Branches are seen. Trunks are seen. Roots are not. And because they're not visible, it is so easy to neglect them — to get caught up in the doing and the producing while the very foundation of everything quietly withers.

Elder Shumway also warns that we can become top-heavy and root-poor when good activities become the focus of growth instead of the Savior. That is a warning worth sitting with.

This is what I love about what Elder Bednar shared — he has always made it a point to fit his secular learning into his gospel lens, not the other way around. Our roots should be informing every branch, not the other way around.

"Being rooted and built up in Christ, established in faith and abounding in thanksgiving." — Colossians 2:7

"Rooted and grounded in love." — Ephesians 3:17

This morning I was talking with a friend and I asked if he had a story for the podcast. He said, actually, I do. And this one is going to stick with me.

His wife had planted flowers all along their back fence. It looked beautiful. But within a couple of days, the flowers started dying. She couldn't figure out what was happening — until she discovered that voles had been tunneling underneath and eating the roots. The flowers had nothing left to draw life from.

"The health of what's visible doesn't always reveal what's happening below."

How often is that true for us? We can look composed, productive, even fruitful on the outside — while something is quietly destroying our roots underneath. The question I want you to sit with is: what are we doing to protect and strengthen our roots?

As I've studied this, I've come to see the trunk as representing our goals — specifically the way that our goals grow directly from the desires of our heart.

"Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish." — Preach My Gospel

I love that definition so much. Because it means the strength of your goals is only as strong as your roots. If our roots are deep in covenant relationship with God, our goals will reflect that. They'll be aligned with our divine potential. They'll foster balanced, lasting growth.

The branches then are the individual areas where that growth shows up — intellectual, social, physical, and spiritual. Luke 2:52 tells us that even Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man. Our branches should reflect the same balanced becoming.

But here's the thing: branches only produce fruit through work and action. And Elder Shumway asks the most clarifying question:

"Are the good endeavors of your life connected to Christ so that you can experience the simplicity and the abundance found only in Him?" — Elder Shumway

You don't have to overhaul everything. You just have to start. Here are two places I recommend beginning:

1. Faith — Even a Particle

Alma 32:27 says: "If ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you and give place for a portion of my words." A small seed of faith given space to grow is enough to begin.

I think sometimes we wait until we feel ready or fully certain before we come to God. But that's not what He asks. He asks for a particle. He can work with a particle. And prayer is one of the most direct ways to exercise that faith — Elder Shumway calls it "a divine gift and tool to help simplify and prioritize our lives."

2. Abound in Thanksgiving

There is something incredibly powerful about gratitude — and Corrie ten Boom's story illustrates it in one of the most striking ways I know.

She and her sister Betsy were in a Nazi concentration camp. Betsy suggested they give thanks for everything — including the fleas in their barracks. Corrie drew the line. Fleas? Absolutely not. But Betsy persisted. And later, they discovered that the guards refused to enter their compound because of those fleas. Because the guards stayed away, these women were able to hold Bible study and were protected from the horrors happening in other parts of the camp.

The fleas were a mercy they almost refused to acknowledge.

"In nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things." — Doctrine & Covenants 59:21

When we are grateful — even in difficulty, even for the things that seem absurd to be grateful for — we open our hearts to see God's hand in our lives. We acknowledge His presence. We shift our gaze from what's missing to what He has provided.

We can't always see the roots. But we can always feel their effects. When our roots are nourished, we are anchored in adversity, aligned in our goals, and growing branches that produce lasting fruit.

"There can and will be plenty of difficulties in life. Nevertheless, the soul that comes unto Christ, who knows His voice and strives to do as He did, finds a strength beyond his own." — Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Broken Things to Mend, April 2006 General Conference

I want to close with the question I leave in the episode — and I hope you'll take it with you this week:

How does the fruit showing up in your life reflect what's happening in your roots?

You don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to do everything at once. Start with faith. Start with gratitude. That's enough to begin.

Because it is simple, friends. President Nelson said it best:

"It is simple. You focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will know how to resolve every challenge you have." — President Russell M. Nelson

Listen to the Full Episode

If this resonated with you, I'd love for you to share it with someone who needs it. And if you're looking for a place to start in this process of becoming, I have a free three-step guide available at becomintheoak.com. It's my gift to you for showing up and doing this work.

Be still. Believe. Become.