Lets talk Roots

Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)

7 “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.

We should all want to be like the trees mentioned in Jeremiah 17. These trees are stable and strong and have maturity. They are rooted.

These kind of trees provide living space for animals, fruit for nourishment, shade for rest, and resources to build. But none of those things would come forth without a deep root system. Good roots reach deep and create an anchor that is typically unseen. Its funny how the unseen things have so much affect on our life.  

Growing deep roots is not glamorous. It is typically done in obscurity. It's a process where motives get dealt with and character is formed. Root growing will not make the Olympic highlight reels anytime soon. I have been through many seasons of character/root growth and its rarely a super-happy-fun time.

Roots are not as evident as the part of the tree that we actually see. I spent some time in the Redwoods and was amazed at their majestic grandeur. Others can't always look into your life and see a deep healthy root system. Deep roots don't always come across in dynamic or exciting ways. I mean...anchors may make a great tattoo but they are not that exciting. Whens the last time you and your friends sat around talking about roots and anchors? Yup.

Roots show themselves in storms and crisis. Roots keep you grounded when everything around you is in chaos. God examines our root system when He looks at our lives. We tend to judge the outward.  God judges the inward. He can see your root system and knows if you have partnered with Him to allow them grow deeper.

I read up a little on root systems. In hard soil roots grow out horizontally but with softer soil roots grow down deep. We can help develop the type of soil our lives and hearts have when we are going through a growth process.

Hard hearts tend to push against the good work of God in our life, but embracing and yielding to His hand, though painful at times, can yield incredible results.

How is your root system?

How can you help them go deeper?

A word of advice that I have learned about roots.

Embrace the process. It's worth the price.