Deep Roots

It’s good to have deep roots – in a tree, in a family, in a community, in our faith.  When roots grow down deep from years of good soil, nourishment, sunshine and rain, there is health for the tree.  Our lives and our faith need the same things.  We must feed our faith and allow ourselves to grow and learn from the good times and the hard times that every life inevitably encounters.

I often think about the large trees around my house when storms rage, and wonder if they will topple over with the strong winds and the ground saturated with water.  If you have ever seen a downed tree after a storm with its roots exposed, you know that the tree was not strong enough to withstand the external forces which came against it.  Maybe its root system was pretty good, but the rain came too hard and fast, and the winds were too strong, the weight too heavy, for it to stand.  It could have even been a beautiful tree, full of life and bearing fruit. 

People are often like that.  We may have a good support system, and a faith that has sustained us in times past.  But then the flood comes, hard and fast, and the wind blows with a ferocity we have not known before.  Are we able to stand, or do we topple?  Is our “root system” able to hold us, or do we allow circumstances to pull us up and blow us over? 

The Bible says, “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8

Psalm 1 tells us that if a person meditates in God’s word day and night, he will be like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields it fruit in its season.

In Colossians 2 (5-7) Paul and Timothy write to the church at Colossae that they are, “…rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.”  They urge the Church, “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”  

We need to be rooted deep, stable in the knowledge of who we are in Christ.  His Word is the foundation that holds us firm.  Plant yourself in it daily.  Also look around at the people who love you, for their devotion and support are a part of the root system as well.  We can’t control the storms that come or how hard the wind will blow, but we can make sure our roots are growing down into the deep goodness of his Word, and intertwining around those we love, giving us strength to stand.   

“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being.  So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and  high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19.