Deep roots

When I think of spring, I think flowers; when of autumn, I think trees.

The Bible often uses trees to teach spiritual truth, more so I think than it does flowers. For example: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes… and never fails to bear fruit."

The Japanese have a technique called Bonsai, whereby trees are grown in miniature form. I believe that this is done by tying up the tap root and thus forcing the tree to live off the surface roots. The result is a stunted tree.

As this particular autumn ends, I wonder how established are our roots spiritually? Our conversations may be an indicator, Jesus saying that what our hearts are full of comes out in what we say. We are often comfortable conversing at a social level: our jobs, family, holidays, or perhaps, education, and even politics. We do seem uncomfortable when it comes to considering what is morally right or wrong; death; why we are here at all, in fact anything religious.

As in the Bible passage above, God encourages us to send our roots down deep into Him, that we might find sustenance even in the times of drought.

The alternative is, contrary to what God wants for us, that we will become stunted and malformed people as we continue to live at surface level.

A year ago, COVID-19 was forcibly presenting us with the deeper questions of life. There was talk of life re-evaluation and of a different way of living post-COVID-19. With the lifting of most restrictions in the summer, have we just slipped back into the old ways called ‘normal’? If, this winter, we go into another drought of ‘normality’ due to a surge in COVID-19, will our spiritual roots be deep enough to draw on the life-giving spiritual water that God offers?

Jesus says, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow from within him."

May we, like a healthy tree, find the life-giving nourishment we need.