Deeply Rooted
I quickly tossed a book into my suitcase.
It was not from my seminary reading stack but a Christmas gift I had been slowly reading over the last two months.
I didn’t expect much reading time on our five-day family getaway to the mountains for my fortieth birthday, so a book with just a few chapters left was realistic.
As one of those odd people who rarely leave a book half-baked, I was determined to finish it for the sweet taste of accomplishment more than revelation.
‘Revelation’ sounds dramatic, but that is often my experience when words and God collide.
A few weeks before, I had been complaining that God seemed distant—he wasn’t speaking to me in the usual wordy ways.
During a little break on our trip, I turned to the final chapter in The Right Kind of Confident and read the chapter title, “Deeply Rooted Confidence.”
Of course!
I snapped a picture of the title to text to a friend who blessed me with a stunning silk scarf from Loves Pure Light Scarves at my birthday party the week before.
It was an extravagant gift, not only for the price but for the prophetic imagery!
The scarf she prayerfully selected to give me is called “You Have Deep Roots.”
Here I am a month later, showing evidence that once you are forty, you take selfies from the most awkward position and proudly text them to that same friend without thinking twice or trying to get a better angle.
This gorgeous silk scarf came with a beautiful postcard showing the handpainted scarf art (pictured at the start of this post) and this message:
I am the sprouting vine, and you are my branches.
As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you.
Go deeper and grow deeper.
Watch your limbs reach new heights with him as you branch out and bear so much fresh fruit!
There is freedom to grow. There is freedom to flourish.
Let your roots go really deep; don't be scared—the deeper you go, the taller you will grow!
So drink deep and grow real deep in this union of trust.
This LOVE will meet you in its depths and heights. What a beautiful sight!
You are his delight!
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all God’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God!
Hallelujah, you are growing tall, and you are growing FREE!
Shining strong as you were created to be!
I held Kassian’s book in that little pocket of quiet with an amused smile, knowing this final chapter was not something to conquer but to absorb deep into the soil of my soul.
Cozied under my blanket, I was aware God was speaking again in the ways I hear best, threading themes through conversations, songs, books, sermons, and my quiet times.
I turned pages with a sense of being safely under the shadow of his wings, reminded of his love, affirmation and pursuit.
Kassian says:
This reminded me of a scripture a friend quoted in a book of sweet messages compiled for my birthday.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
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 start green, and they never stop producing fruit.”
Here, facing another milestone of grief, a couple of weeks from the two-year mark of my dad’s passing, I am teary-eyed and comforted that my roots are mostly not because of me.
The roots of my story are a generational legacy of blessing I can’t take credit for.
The roots of faith have supported me, passed down through family lines and generations of Christ followers.
I can take credit for how I carry my part of the mantle for my generation, digging deeper to know and share God. Staying grounded when the storms of life try to attack this strong root system.
In seminary, I am taking a course on the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) this semester. In my morning reading, just before sharing this blog post, I came to Luke 8:4-15 where Jesus tells the parable of the farmer scattering seed.
Jesus goes on to interpret the parable for his disciples, and I was struck by verse 13:
“The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptations.”
May we continue to grow deep roots and weather Satan’s tactics!
As spring holds memories of loss, “deeply rooted” means remembering and choosing to live by the Sacred Rhythms I wrote about recently.
When the soil of our souls is fertilized in spirit and truth, our roots grow stronger and deeper, season by season.
One can only wonder what good fruit this summer will bring as we stay rooted in Christ!
“All suffering, all pain, all emptiness, all disappointment is seed:
sow it in God and he will, finally, bring a crop of joy from it.”
—Eugene Peterson
