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What are your roots tapping into?
Good morning…it’s me again, Nature Boy. As I referenced a week or so ago in my last F1A God really speaks to me through His creation…and those verses that reference nature speak to me doubly.
When I read through Jeremiah 17:5-6, where he references "bush in the wastelands" I envision tumbleweeds rolling through a parched desert or my front yard a couple of summers ago during our Level 27 drought – barely hanging on to life. Then when I read Jeremiah 17:7-8 I think of the massive cypress tree near my grandparents house, just past the natural spring off the side of the road people where people would stop to fill their jugs with fresh water…or the incredible 100 year old Live Oak that my dad and I would camp under, with its stretched out limbs gracefully covered in Spanish Moss reaching out over the St. John’s River – both trees strong and rich in meaning and life.
Then I ask myself, which image is more characteristic of my life? Do I trust more in man or God? Do I spend time chasing worldly desires – out of fear, ignorance, greed, or pride…or do I bask in God’s embrace through prayer while drinking in his Word, allowing Him to shape my worldview? Do I settle for meaningless, surfacey relationships that have the appearance of all smiles…or do I invest in real, although sometimes difficult but ultimately life-giving relationships? Do I want to be a tumbleweed or a Live Oak?
My answer to all these questions is probably somewhere between a "uh" and a "uh-huh"…nothing I’m really convinced of. So with that I I’m going to stop and pray that God helps me have roots that tap into Him and Him alone…so that I can live a life that is rich and full and meaningful, while glorifying and pointing others to Him. What about you?
Oh Nature Boy, you are speaking my language. As Earth Day approaches, there start to be more and more cultural reminders that creation is worth saving, worth investing in, worth an effort to keep…well, natural. God’s gift to us was a planet where we could thrive as we learned to become like minded with Christ, with reminders at every turn about His majesty, His imagination, His creativity. The fact that a tumbleweed or Cypress tree can be used as a metephor for our spriritual nourishment or lack-there-of is just cool. Thanks for the encouragement toward sending my roots deep down, where the waters flow abundantly! Don’t be a Tumbleweed!
Excellent stuff, Doug! Thanks for sharing this. You have challenged me this morning in an area that I desperately needed reinforcement today, relying on God and God alone to sustain me through ALL times, good and bad alike.
.. good imagery.. and a tumbleweed does truly tumble..
Years ago, when I walked home from grammer school.. the last leg was down ‘our’ alley that divided back yards (garage facing garage) and allowed garbage pick-up. At times on windy days the Califoria desert tumbleweeds would careen aimlessly down our alley.. going where the wind blew them. It was ‘dodge ball’ of a different kind. They were sometimes 3′ high and prickly!
THE question is ALWAYS, “Who or what do I trust?”..
Thanks for the reminder, AND for your honesty that we wonder.. and fall into being ‘unconvinced’.. when we KNOW .. the Living Water IS available.