Read Time:7 Minute, 8 Second

By William Van Zyl

Published October 17, 2025

Can a tree stump live for centuries without leaves? Dear reader, what do you think? Is it possible? How will it survive?

Deep in a forest in New Zealand, scientists discovered something quite astonishing: a kauri tree stump — cut off years before and seemingly lifeless — still alive (New York Times, 2019). Hidden beneath the surface, however, the stump was being sustained by its neighbours (American Institute of Physics, 2019).

I included the link to the article at the end of the post. I also include APA references for your convenience at the end.

IMAGE: The Kaurio tree stump in New Zealand. AUT scientists have described how a kauri stump is keeping itself alive by holding onto the roots of neighbouring trees, exchanging water and resources through the grafted root system. Credit: https://www.aut.ac.nz/news/stories/younger-trees-keep-nearby-grandpa-kauri-alive

CAPTION TO ABOVE IMAGE: Leuzinger says one explanation is that the root grafts formed before one of the trees lost its leaves and became a stump. The grafted roots expand the root systems of the trees, allowing them to access more resources such as water and nutrients. They also increase the stability of the trees on the steep forest slope. When one of the trees loses its leaves and stops providing carbohydrates, this may go unnoticed, and so the “pensioner” can continue its life on the backs of surrounding, intact trees. “This has far-reaching consequences for our perception of trees – possibly we are not really dealing with trees as individuals, but with the forest as a superorganism,” Leuzinger says. Credit: https://www.aut.ac.nz/news/stories/younger-trees-keep-nearby-grandpa-kauri-alive

This living remnant is an invitation to wonder — not only about forests and roots and the mysterious alliances of life, but about us: about how people, too, might whisper life into one another.

The Whispering Forest: Trees that speak, share, nourish

In his book The Secret Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben (2016) describes a hidden world in which trees do not stand alone, but exist in a web of interdependence. Through underground fungal networks (mycelium) and root grafts, trees can exchange sugars, nutrients, even warnings — in effect “talking” to one another beneath the soil (Gardener, 2029).

When one tree is stressed — perhaps weakened by disease or shade — other trees may send over extra sugar or minerals. The forest, in Wohlleben’s metaphor, is not a battlefield of competition, but a community of care: silent, slow, generous (Gardener, 2029).

The kauri stump offers a dramatic illustration. Even without leaves or a canopy, it is hydraulically connected to living trees nearby. Through root-to-root grafts and possibly fungal networks, water and nutrients pulse into it, keeping its tissues alive though it no longer photosynthesises (Leuzinger, Dawson & Bader, 2019).

Imagine, then, the neighbouring trees as whispering:

“Here, take from me a drop of water.”
“Lean on my root, I will lend strength.”
“You struggle? I will ease your burden.”

They do so not in haste, but in slow, deliberate generosity, through the hidden circuits of the forest floor.

A Human Metaphor: People as Trees, Nourishing One Another

The Bible often uses trees as a living metaphor for people. We are rooted. We grow. We can be cut down, yet — with care and connection — we may live again.

Consider Psalm 1:3:

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.”

Here, the righteous one is a tree, drawing from the stream of God, stable and fruitful.

In Jeremiah 17:7-8, we read:

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

These passages encourage us: remain connected to the source (God), and you will endure (Becker, 2021).

Jesus, too, uses tree imagery. He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches” (John 15:5), calling for mutual abiding. The apostle Paul prays that believers might be “rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:17). In Colossians, he prays that the Colossians be “rooted in Christ” (Colossians 2:7).

In Mark 8:24, a curious verse appears:

“He looked up and said, ‘I see people, but they look like trees, walking around.’”

That phrase — “people like walking trees” — invites reflection: perhaps our true shape is deeper, more rooted, than mere flesh and bone.

From Whispering Trees to Whispering People

What if, like those silent trees, we spoke to one another quietly, persistently, life-givingly?

1. Financial support

Just as one tree might send nutrients to a weakened stump, we can help someone in financial need — cover a debt, lend a hand, share an opportunity.

2. Food and drink, hospitality

The Bible repeatedly calls the people of God to feed the hungry, share drink with the thirsty. (See Isaiah 58, Matthew 25:35–36, Hebrews 13:2.) We can let love flow by offering meals, cups of water, a warm kitchen, a safe table.

3. Emotional support

When someone is cut down by grief, anxiety, or brokenness, we can whisper encouragement. We can listen, we can weep with them, we can lean in. This is like offering root nourishment to a hurting soul.

4. Prayer and spiritual support

We can cover one another in prayer; we can speak truth, hope, and forgiveness. We can bind up wounds. We can stand with one another in trial. In spiritual warfare, we give, we intercede, we uphold.

5. Practical acts of service

Little things: helping with chores, an errand, transportation, child care — practical water and nutrients for life’s frail stumps.

In Galatians 6:2, Paul commands:

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

With that, we become, in human form, whispering forests of grace. We keep alive those who might otherwise wither.

The Miraculous in the Mundane

The Kauri stump teaches us something sacred: life endures not always by fierce struggle, but often by quiet alliance. A stump that should have died lingers, kept in existence by the patience and generosity of its tree-neighbours.

So too in our communities: people bear wounds, lose hope, feel forgotten. But if we remain connected — through love, through giving, through prayers, through presence — perhaps we can whisper life into one another.

May we be trees among trees, whispering strength, sustaining each other, living beyond what seems possible.

References

American Institute of Physics. (2019, July 29). Tree stump stays alive with a little help from neighboring trees. Inside Science. https://www.aip.org/inside-science/tree-stump-stays-alive-with-a-little-help-from-neighboring-trees

Bible Hub. (n.d.). Mark 8:24. https://biblehub.com/mark/8-24.htm

Holy Bible, King James Version. (1769/2017). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1769)

Joe Gardener. (2019, November 14). The hidden life of trees with Peter Wohlleben. https://joegardener.com/podcast/hidden-life-of-trees-peter-wohlleben

Leuzinger, S., Dawson, T. E., & Bader, M. K.-F. (2019). Hydraulic coupling of a leafless kauri tree remnant to conspecific hosts. iScience, 19, 1238–1247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2019.07.010

Becker, A. J. (2021). Science for the Church. (Published 2021, April 13). Becoming like trees. https://scienceforthechurch.org/2021/04/13/becoming-like-trees

The New York Times. (2019, July 25). How a tree stump can live for centuries without leaves. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/science/tree-stump-alive.html

Wohlleben, P. (2016). The hidden life of trees: What they feel, how they communicate – Discoveries from a secret world. Greystone Books.

Link to the AUT (Auckland University of Technology – New Zealand). article: https://www.aut.ac.nz/news/stories/younger-trees-keep-nearby-grandpa-kauri-aliv