One of the most powerful aspects of My Witness Tree lies in its simplicity. We desire to maintain that simplicity in all we do, and we highly encourage you to do the same. The last thing we want is for this to feel complicated or like a burden for you or your family. We are confident that as you consistently take time to go through the process of recognizing, sharing, recording, and leafing--that you will not only feel it was easy but that it will become a highlight of your day or week.  In most instances, we have found that it frequently takes 10-15 minutes start to finish. We really hope that the phrase “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” applies to your experience using My Witness Tree.

One of the best things that can be done to help keep this experience an active part of our busy lives is to put the trees in a visible place. “Out of sight, out of mind” would certainly apply here. One of the great benefits of having a physical My Witness Tree is that you can put it somewhere that allows you to see it multiple times on a daily basis. As you place more and more leaves on your tree, the tree will become a powerful symbol every time you look at it. Every time you notice it, you will likely consider your experiences and what additional leaves may need to be recorded, share, and added. Seeing the tree can help keep you focused on your efforts to seek after and recognize God in your life. It can be a call to action as we seek to hear Him instead of passively waiting and hoping He will regularly make Himself manifest. We suggest putting it in a well-traveled hallway, a bedroom, or in a room where the Gospel is studied and discussed as a family, couple, or individual.

This is an absolutely crucial part of the process. We feel very strongly that each journal entry and subsequent leaf needs to be a personal, genuine experience—especially for children. This can be a little tricky with smaller children because they need guidance and prompts to help them begin to recognize their experiences with God, but we don’t want children to feel like they have to come up with something to make their parents happy, keep up with their siblings, or to simply put a leaf on their tree because it’s fun. Placing leaves on trees for things that didn’t really happen defeats the purpose of My Witness Tree and undermines the power it can have in someone’s life. Our hope is that when a child (or adult) looks at their tree, they will be able to say, “Those were all my experiences.” “I actually felt those things.” “I actually saw those things.” “Those were all real.” “I was not compelled or felt pressured to come up with something.” Our hope is that each individual will be able to take what they are learning about God and see it play out in reality in their own life—to connect what they have been taught and have faith in with what they experience spiritually—to recognize where the rubber has hit the road.

We have found through experience that this may be the most important ingredient to having a good experience and to see trees “grow” leaves. Creating a regular time and place to recognize, reflect, share, and record is crucial. Had we simply left the process up to our children, it is likely they would have only a fraction of the leaves they currently have on their trees. We have always used Sunday after church at our home as the time and place to recognize, share, and record. We ask if anyone had anything happen where they felt the Spirit or saw God in their life that they want to share and/or record. Couples or individuals may find it better to do this daily, but we have found that by doing it weekly with our family enough time has passed where they may have experienced something. If you ask a child every day about adding a leaf, they may get discouraged when they repeatedly have to say no. As mentioned in the FAQ section, children may go multiple weeks between experiences they feel are worth recording—and that’s perfectly ok. For adults, these experiences may very well happen daily and waiting until the end of the week to try and record them may be too infrequent.

It is important to create correct expectations when beginning to use My Witness Tree. It could be frustrating for adults, and especially children, if they envisioned being able to fill their tree in a matter of months, and they end up realizing that it may take years. There are two important truths to consider in order to set correct expectations. The first of which is that God tends to work in small and simple ways over time. He does things line upon line (leaf upon leaf), here a little and there a little. He generally is not in a rush, which appears to be a purposeful learning strategy He employs. The second truth is that spiritual experiences cannot be manufactured or forced. There is no magical formula which can produce a divine experience on demand. When considering both of these truths about God, it becomes obviously clear that patience will be required to take a leading role. However, it is through patient persistence that we will come to obtain the answers we so desperately seek.