She Drew the Roots

Yesterday, my seven year old daughter, Sunshine Girl, gave me a picture of a flower she drew.  I praised her for her picture, and then thought about the eclectic mix of  artistic flowers I've seen over the years of working with kids.  There have been hundreds, perhaps even thousands of floral renditions, but Sunshine Girl's picture was slightly different than the myriad of others.

SHE DREW THE ROOTS.


When I was a classroom teacher, we studied the anatomy of a flower in fourth grade science. I instructed my students to include the root system in their diagrams, but Sunshine Girl wasn't drawing a diagram for science.  She was creating art.  She drew the flower exactly how she thinks about, feels, and sees it. Sunshine Girl included what is forgotten and hidden to most of us.  She included the MOST IMPORTANT part.  The Roots.


UGLY.

DIRTY.

MUSTY.

DARK.

ROOTS.



THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF A FLOWER IS *NOT* IT'S BEAUTY.

The ROOTS are the lifeline.  The ROOTS are the anchor. Without a healthy anchor fingering down into the soil, the plant that yields such beauty cannot be nourished and cannot survive.



HIDDEN. FORGOTTEN. ROOTS.  

TENDED.  MAINTAINED. PROTECTED. 

PRODUCE. SPLENDID. BLOOMS.

Sunshine Girl's picture got me to thinking about my own roots.  Are my roots gripping and spreading deep into the soil around me to give me the best spiritual anchor as possible?  Am I even planted in the right soil for the best nourishment as possible?  I believe that what you are planted in, spiritually speaking, is what you will produce.

"May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous LOVE. And may you have the power to understand how wide, how long, how high, and deep HIS LOVE really is."  Ephesians 3:17-18

Notice what the blossom on Sunshine Girl's flower is.  A heart.  A heart represents LOVE.  Not only did her picture reveal roots, it displayed LOVE.  May your roots travel, spread, finger, dig, anchor, and weave deep into the rich soil of God's...

I LOVE YOU~ REALLY AND TRULY~ NO MATTER WHAT

...LOVE, and may you well up with a beauty that will burst forth and blossom from the uncontainable life and nourishment you receive from that truth.  BE HIS LOVE TO OTHERS. 

I am thankful for the picture gift of my seven year old to remind me of these truths, and for that reason, I am so glad SHE DREW THE ROOTS. 

Worse Than Dead

I am looking at the farmer's field 

          outside my bedroom window.  It's springtime, and there is a substantial amount of green popping up daily in the field.The field is also covered in a blanket of brown stalks that wave when the wind whisks them.These straw shafts are the evidence left from a once fruitful wheat harvest. The green is beginning to seize the brown. The green is healthy. The green is lush.The green is life. The green is weeds. 

THE GREEN IS WEEDS.

Weeds.

Weeds.

  

Weeds. 

They, themselves, are strong healthy plants.  Left unattended, they will overcome the entire field.
   

STRONG-GREEN. 

FALSE-LIFE. 
 

As the field stands, there will be no more TRULY healthy life.  Sure, a few kernels of wheat could have fallen to the ground during the harvest last July or August, and a few new plants might sprout up bearing fruit from those seeds, but with the vast amount of green taking over, the new life will eventually be choked out. The fruit, if any, will not reach the full potential of the original seed.  The abandoned field is rendered useless for bearing new growth.   

IT'S WORSE THAN DEAD.  

It's a breeding ground for false life. The weeds will mature and go to seed. As the wind whips through swollen pods and puffs, it will carry the weed seeds into other fields and begin to fester growth there as well.   

As the field stands...  

As the field stands...  

As the field stands...

This ground needs to be BROKEN. This green needs to be turned up by it's roots and set free from the soil to which it clings.  This brown needs to be turned under to create room for new growth. 

Broken.  

Broken.  

THIS GROUND MUST BE BROKEN. 

BROKEN.  

READIED.  

PREPARED.  

SOFTENED.   

Soil must be tendered for the seed to bed, and for new life and growth to begin. 

HEALTHY-DEEP. 

BOUNTIFUL-GROWTH.  

  But first, the ground must be broken.... broken..... broken..... 

In my own life, times of brokenness have facilitated my deepest growth. There are times when I have been overtaken by weeds-  STRONG-GREEN.  FALSE-LIFE.  -just like the field outside my window.  Something had to be broken to bring freedom from the alien roots in my life.  SOMETHING had to be broken.  

ME. 

The truth of the matter, though, is that It hurts to be broken.  It hurts to have roots rip and tear away from the soil in which they have grown deep and comfortable, but... 

PAIN ALWAYS HAS A PURPOSE IN GOD'S SOVEREIGN HANDS.  

ALWAYS.     

Do not fear being broken, my friends.  Instead, fear NOT being broken.  Surrendered sorrow has the capacity to cement you to JESUS if you walk transparently through your pain. Whatever your journey, humbly trust Him.  

Trust Him.

Trust Him.

Trust Him.

... and bring on that plow.  

"The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit.  You will not reject a broken and repentant heart."  Psalm 51:17

"Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before Me when you heard what I spoke... and wept before Me, I truly have heard you."  2 Kings 22:19