Muir Grove

Winter at Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park.

Like so many visitors to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks, my first encounter with the majestic giant sequoia trees was at the popular Grant Grove, located in Kings Canyon National Park.

I was immediately drawn to these enormous trees. Since that day, it has been fun to seek out the different groves of sequoias, which are tucked in among the forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

Summer at Muir Grove in Sequoia National Park.

The grove featured to the right is called the Muir Grove. Named after the famous naturalist, John Muir, this grove can be reached by hiking on a four-mile, round-trip path.

As I wandered among the trees of Muir Grove, I pondered upon their age. Some of them are thousands of years old. If they were only human, imagine how much they could tell us!

These trees have also endured the ravages of time. Fires that have ripped through these mountains over the centuries, have left only scars on their trunks.

While I considered these things, I was struck by how these trees remind us of the timelessness of God and how His faithfulness has continued generation after generation. The second verse to the song, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” echoed through my mind as I looked up and saw the sun streaming through the thick branches.

 

“Summer and winter, and spring-time and harvest,

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see;

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided —

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

(Text: Thomas O. Chisholm)