Let’s picture what a tree and its roots are doing when it’s at its healthiest. The roots are forging their way down into wonderfully fertile soil, right? These deep roots discover the essential nutrients the tree needs to survive and support its ever-expanding canopy of leaves. Deeper roots also help the tree weather droughts and other difficult living conditions because it can better access the water table below it.
When a tree is healthy, it also grows up! The branches stretch toward the sun and may even defy imagination with its creative sun-seeking strategies. If you like the outdoors at all, chances are you’ve marveled a time or two and a tree’s ability to push past obvious limitations to seek soil or sun!
So, if I’m tapped into God’s Word, instead of the surface of the earth/society, then living the life he’s laid before me becomes a fulfillment of vocation, a calling with deep meaning (as opposed to the shallow, superficial pursuits we discussed last time). More importantly, it means I’m rooted in and ready for eternity (after all, what is this blip of a life anyway?).
I think of my late husband, Nick, and his life being over and done so quickly – did he lead a good life and leave a wonderful legacy with his family and friends? Absolutely. But compared to earth’s timeline, and certainly compared to Nick’s eternity in heaven, what is a life really besides God’s gentle invitation to salvation during our earthly time of grace? It’s like the hair and makeup session before the big event.
Because my calling, my purpose, and my existence are all connected to God’s vision of me through to eternity, then there’s no need to compare myself to others (or for you to do that, either). Shallow social comparisons, be gone! We have unique purposes on this earth. I can’t do what you do for other people. Neither can that person that might be the object of your jealousies. That person you think you’d like to trade lives with can’t accomplish God’s unique mission for you. It’s only you! Isn’t that so very deep and so very special?!
Our deep connection to Christ and our resulting relationship with him mean that we have a Christ-rooted identity! A tree with deep roots has energy sources at either end – from root to leaf. It has nutrients in the deep soil beneath it and vibrant sunshine above it!
Hopefully, you can see my emphasis on the vertical nature of tree roots and branches compared to the horizontal tension of being pulled here and there across the face of the earth. Our horizontal focus keeps us searching without a power source.
If we’re beautifully and deeply rooted in Christ, we stand on a strong foundation of God’s Word. Just as it says in Matthew 7:24-25, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.”
If we’re beautifully and deeply rooted, we need to trace our identities all the way back to our baptisms. That’s who you really are. You are seen, Purposeful Hearts, because God saw you from eternity! You are enough because he made you, redeemed you, and wrote your name in his book of life!
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