Firmly Rooted
by Joan Vetter
The other day I spent time in my backyard digging up oak trees. Of course these oak trees were only three inches tall, but I was amazed to find about five inches of root below the ground. I chuckled to see the little acorn holding on to the root for dear life. Those little acorns didn't waste time. They dug in their heels and got established. How incredible to think the two huge oak trees in our front yard actually began their lives from something as tiny as my thumb nail. There is no way I could even begin to dig them out.
Then today I went out to plant some grass plugs. Before I knew it, my husband and I were digging up roots from the Crepe Myrtle tree that had reached the cool deck around our pool. We certainly didn't need them travelling under it and puncturing the new vinyl liner.
Later in the day I decided to fertilize our Azalea bush. A wild vine, already about six feet long, had wound it's tendrils around many of the branches. I have to admit I took the easy way out and just snipped it at root level, fully realizing I'll have to deal with this intruder in the future.
Guess it's God's show and tell time. For weeks now, the Lord has been speaking about roots. It started with the word "strong-hold". Then the words "firmly rooted" - followed by the scripture, "Every plant my Heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up." (Matt. 15:13) Consequently, I have followed these clues on God's treasure hunt with great anticipation to see how it will all come together.
This quest was launched as I began to think of how long- standing problems or diseases seemingly don't budge very easily with prayer. So we are often left with wrong-thinking: this situation is the will of God, God doesn't care or doesn't hear me, or God is not able to do this. Just like the ground that didn't release those little oak trees without much effort, our minds refuse to release long standing erroneous beliefs. And the longer they have held their ground, the harder it is to pull them out.
Perhaps there is something huge in our lives that needs to go - an addiction or disease such as Lyme that seems too big or impossible to be free of. As we look to scripture, we see a beautiful example of the power Jesus had when he walked on this earth (and we are told as He was, so are we). He spoke to a fig tree. The next morning, as the disciples passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Peter said, "Look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered away." Later Jesus declares, "whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."
So, let's get out our Kingdom gardening tools and set to work. We've got some planting to do, but also some uprooting.
First, let's plant love. God says we are to be rooted and grounded in his love. Of course the seed of love is the Word of God. As we meditate on scriptures such as Rom. 5:8 we learn that "God demonstrated His own love toward us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," that seed goes a little deeper. Then we meditate on Jeremiah 3:3, and learn "The Lord has appeared to me saying, 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you'." Again, the seed gets more established. Subsequently we learn that faith works by love, so suddenly faith to uproot an illness springs forth. If we know we're loved by God and we love ourselves, it is easier to believe God wants the best for us.
Perhaps when we try to plant the good seeds we just run into stones, hard ground or roots. For instance a friend kept trying to landscape their yard with no avail. Finally they called in an expert. He discovered a network of roots all over the yard. In Christian meetings she speaks on the root of bitterness and brings a shoebox filled with one of the intertwined roots. If we fail to prepare the ground, we won't have much success getting the seed to grow.
Having planted a crop of love and faith, we prepare for the harvest. I love remembering the time when we lived in Ohio on two acres of land. After experiencing a year of failure due to the ground not being prepared, the following year we finally had our crop of 8-foot tall corn stalks. They were almost ready for harvest when a furious storm blew in, knocking them all down. When it blew over, I was in the garden on my hands and knees lifting up the stalks and patting the mud around each one to make them stand erect. It was so worth it at harvest time. We enjoyed dozens and dozens of ears of sweet, golden corn.
Therefore, spiritually, we may have to get on our knees and protect the harvest even after persistently believing for a breakthrough, but let's not give up - the end result is so sweet and so worth the effort!
