I’ve lingered long in the garden this summer.
The sky is wild with clouds but sun peaks through most of each day.
When we least expect the rain it seems to gush for a moment then stop.
When we are fast asleep the longer showers blanket the garden.
God’s perfection is at work.
People ask why I rarely cut flowers for inside the house.
My answer remains, “They die too quickly even if lovingly watered.”
There is something that changes when a flower is cut from its family and popped into a substance like clear, clean water. It blooms for a bit but then give up and dies.
Where are the nutrients?
How can a flower linger with no tentacles to slowly bring enrichment to the buds?
Alas, it’s the grimy grit of dirt that is needed; the gray-black substance where it begins life.
My flowers and trees began as seeds even if I bought some of them as sturdy plants.
These seeds hid in darkness for many weeks before they were able to peak out of the soil. During this time they got use to the damp-cool darkness pressed against their pin-head bodies.
They grew the most important part of the plant . . . Roots!
Because of their roots my plants and trees suck in drops from torrential rain or wait patiently for a taste of moisture when dehydrated.
Each plant pierced through the ground only after a substantial root system was born.
Only then can they begin to grow tall and create blooms while the wind presses into them and while rain drops pounce upon them.
Because of roots, my garden grows more beautiful each day.
The ten-foot Leland Cypress Pine tree was only suppose to grow another few feet.
It is now thirty feet tall.
The root system grows under a garden wall and all the way down a steep open slope. It’s very happy to receive gallons of water when it seeps down from the hillside above.
The side garden was carved out of our hill in three terraces which come down from the front to the back of the house. A Mountain Laurel ‘bush’ that died back a couple years ago and was cut to the ground decided to grow again and is now twelve feet high. We never touched the root system which happily extends across the side yard, free of any impediments. It is surrounded by other large bushes including my favorite blue hydrangea bush. Astilbe pops up with it’s red brushes and Day-lilies peak through Russian sage branches. Trailing blue geraniums cover Hasta that flow under the Holly and Winterberry bushes
In the back yard Rose bushes are surrounded by garlic plants and oregano. Echinacea (Coneflower) mixes with Day-lilies, Zinnias, Coreopsis, Butterfly bush and splatters of ‘volunteers’ that have blown from elsewhere. Russian sage sways high above the garden as a backdrop. Hasta happily settles under the Leland Cypress tree.
All these plants and flowers have taken time to form roots, from shallow and malleable to deep down in the earth, never to be touched.
It’s the roots that help each plant or flower endure and thrive in their own way.
It’s the roots that nourish and sustain when the weather becomes fickle.
It’s the roots that help each flower, plant, bush or tree stand tall right where it was planted. Without roots, each would not be able to exist for long.
It’s the same with us.
We need roots to sustain life.
While we were in gestation for nine months we were rooted to our mother through a cord that fed us with nutrients as we floated mindlessly in her amniotic sac.
All we did was absorb and grow from a seed smaller than a pinhead into a human being with ten toes and ten fingers on two legs and two arms.
Our bodies are filled with complex organs that work with one another miraculously to enable us to thrive.
They took time to grow but they grew enough to enable us to live outside this sac, outside our mother, in a very crazy place called ‘the world.’
Our head with eyes and ears and nose and mouth and brain was far more complex to develop but God’s master plan is beyond my comprehension.
Our bodies need some parts to be viable outside the womb. Yet, some bodies cannot live beyond a certain point or are born and do not live long. We who have lost life will grieve for that child but that child belongs to God. I know God’s hand is on us to help us with that life-long grief.
All life, even that of a flower, is precious to God.
Yet, just because a ‘well rooted’ baby survives birth and sustains life for years, there are other roots that are necessary for that child to thrive.
We all know the words, “Bloom where you were planted.”
Sometimes, where we are planted does not offer enough sustenance for us to thrive.
We may be genetically strong but our surroundings lack nutrients for solid growth.
That’s where parents may need a bit of help from grandparents or other relatives.
It’s the family unit, however extended, that can provide strong roots to sustain the temptations presented to us throughout life.
Many times, the ‘family’ system needs to be embraced by a greater family.
That’s why when I read in my daily reading this week I was reminded of God’s two most important commands. Among the Ten Commandments and the extra 613 laws, I’m reminded of two important instructions from God when Covenant relationship was re-introduced to the Israelites just after they entered the Sinai desert after their exodus from Egypt.
In Deuteronomy (the second Law) God reminds us of our need to be rooted to the One who created us.
First, there is to be only ONE God to worship. Money, possessions, television, sports, social networks and so much more can be used to strengthen our roots but must be used responsibly. If any become gods, our roots are weakened and will become clogged with useless pride-filled perversions. Only when we develop deep roots with the Lord, thy God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, can we grow roots of stature and strength.
The Second most important command from Deuteronomy is to diligently teach our children or others what we have learned from God. Only when we grow in stature and strength in God’s image can we then teach another generation.
The Hebrew people learned words from Deuteronomy that they say daily, words of the Shama.
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is God, the Lord is One.” Faithful households still place a Mezuzah on their door (a thin metal covering for words of the Shema placed inside) and touch it each time they enter or exit their home. This affirms their rootedness to God daily.
Only when we connect with the little ones and any others in our path can we help them to grow deep roots, to connect with God in everything they say and do.
It is up to us to give ‘roots’ to our children or grand children or neighbors children or any peer who comes into our life-path.
It is up to us to share the strength and nurturing love we have received from God with another.
It is up to us to give others an opportunity to see, know, embrace and drink in the love of God for themselves.
Only when we share our lives with others can our God-nutrients flow into another life to give them God-roots.
It is up to us to help others grow roots that will sustain them through life’s temptations and even help others thrive.
Today I read my daily meditation that just ‘happened’ to speak of our roots!
I am affirmed daily of God’s presence but this is amazing quote.
How did God know I would write this morning?
This is what Thomas a` Kempis says in his most amazing book, Imitation of Christ:
“Many try to fly away from temptations only to fall
more deeply into them; for you cannot win a battle
by mere flight. It is only by patience and humility that
you will be strengthened against the enemy. Those who
shun them outwardly and do not pull them out by the
roots will make no progress; for temptations will soon
return to harass them and they will be in a worse state.
It is only gradually—with patience and endurance and
with God’s grace—that you will overcome temptations
sooner than by your own efforts and anxieties . . Gold is
tried by fire and the upright person by temptation.
Often we do not know what we can do until temptation
shows us what we are . . . This is how temptation is:
first we have a thought, followed by strong imaginings,
then the pleasure and evil emotions, and finally
consent. This is how the enemy gains full admittance,
because he was not resisted at the outset. The slower
we are to resist, the weaker we daily become and
the stronger the enemy is against us.”
I cannot grow roots on the flowers I cut a few times a year when we entertain.
I cannot grow roots for those trees and flowers in my garden.
Yet, I can grow my own roots by daily connecting with the Lord and understanding the One whom God sent to me to die on a cross for me and show me resurrected life, Jesus Christ.
I can rise above the smarmy parts of life as I keep drinking in the life of God’s Son.
I can share what God blooms within me when I drink from Scripture and worship, Holy Communion and prayer.
Through these, and more I receive nutrients that make my soul grow.
May your garden, whether a huge swath of land or a tiny potted plant, remind you of your rootedness to life through God, our Creator, His Son, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
If we choose to say, “yes” to life, all we have to do is say “yes” to our Triune God and He will sustain us with a well rooted life.
Our ‘yes’ to God is daily but our ‘yes’ guarantees life-roots in the eternal presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
May we enjoy continued growth of our roots and share what God feeds us to all who surround us.
May your roots grow strong and deep in the Presence of God.
