Roots are fascinating to me. As a southern girl born and raised in Georgia, I am keenly aware of the shallowness of pine tree roots and how top heavy they are. Mostly due to the fact that they often splice open roofs in a wind or ice storm.
Weeping willow trees are quite the opposite. Their roots are like subterranean seek and destroy assassins that will wrap around plumbing lines, septic tanks and even foundations pushing them totally off kilter or choking them out. Their beauty as they spread out with giant umbrellas of lavish green trails are deceiving while within the dirt the roots are wreaking havoc.
Whichever tree or plant you look at, there is a foundational strength —a life carrying strength to the roots.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 states: “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.”
Faith is foundational, and without it, it makes weathering the storms of life a lot more difficult.
Water and roots definitely go hand in hand. Roots need water to survive, and the type of plant it is depends on what amount of water it needs to survive. Vince’s deep, gravelly voice will forever live in my memory stating: “Blueberries don’t like their feet wet” meaning: their roots needed to be in well drained soil and not an area that is constantly damp.
In a recent sermon I listened to, my pastor spoke of how God tested the faith of people in the Bible multiple times with water. There are several examples, but in thinking of this, many of us probably quickly think about Jonah, or the flood, or the parting of the Red Sea. Those examples are profound, huge, and almost hard to even process or visualize, but then there are others.
As a mother, I am amazed by the faith of Mose’s mother Jochebed. I am sure she was extremely mindful of the dangers of the water that she grew up next to. I am sure she had probably witnessed people who had drowned in that same river as well as being well aware of the animal predators that lurked around the reeds of the river’s banks. However, her foundational roots of unwavering faith gave her the guidance that the water was a means of survival and freedom for her son. If she hadn’t acted upon her faith, Moses would have died under Pharoah’s decree to kill all newborn Hebrew boys. Her faith gave her the strength to place her precious baby in the water and the assurance that God would deliver him safely. I often long for the strength of faith that Jochebed had. The greatest sense of irony in this story, as well as possibly the greatest test of Jochebed’s inner strength was that it was Pharoah’s daughter that found her child and eventually raised him. The same household that was oppressing and threatening the lives of Hebrews was also the one that God sent to rescue her child from the river. God’s love and guidance is powerful, and He sometimes casts scenes that seem so ironic that we can’t even wrap our heads around the possibilities that He has already put into play around us.
I took this picture when my son and I went to visit Kentucky earlier this spring. We visited during the torrential downpour flooding in between tornadoes. (We have impeccable timing.) I knew when I saw that flower out in the middle of the water that God was going to give me a blog post from it. (What I didn’t know was how much my life was going to change in just a few short months.) At the time that I took the picture, I also didn’t have a church sign that seemed to link to that image. But five days later I saw this sign. I had to laugh to myself because I’m certain that God knows that as a writer, I don’t love clichés. But in reality, if He hadn’t made it obvious, I may have missed this sign completely and passed on by.
I believe that two things can be true at the same time. Something like a flower can be beautiful and still be almost beaten to death by a storm.
The vibrancy of the colors of that flower in the middle of the lake really struck me while I was standing on what I assume was the bank. I am actually not sure where the lake stopped before the flood and where the banks originally started because that was the first time I had been there. But from the way it looked, that flower had always been in the middle of the lake. Like it just sprung up out of the shadows of a dark, cold, murky lake with faith that there was light and warmth above to nurture it. Blind faith. That probably isn’t the case though. It probably stood tall despite a powerful barrage of wind and rain. Regardless, I found myself wishing that my faith and strength was as visible as that flower. Or as strong as Jochebed’s faith and strength. She knew that if she followed God’s directions to her, that He would keep her son safe. Maybe she even knew from His direction that God would bring her son back into her arms again, or perhaps that was a surprise blessing. Regardless, that is what He did.
I will never know why God took Vince away from all of us who loved him so much. And I honestly don’t think that while I am on this earth that I ever will. What I do know is that God knows why and I have to find peace with the fact that He knows more than I do, and that He loves Vince even more than I do. My faith in God absolutely has to outweigh my fear of the storms and my longing for peace of a life without storms. God never promised any believer in Him a life without storms. He just promised that if we leaned on Him, He would guide us through. And I believe that with everything in me.
God has blessed me with so much in Georgia, but I have been led by Him to leave and be closer to my family in Tennessee. This is my last night in Vince’s house that I have lived in for the past (almost) three years. Over the last three and a half years, I have felt pummeled by storms. I have felt so weak and lonely at times that even though I knew I could probably muster up the strength to stand, I didn’t want to anymore. Probably like that flower. Maybe even like Jochebed after she pushed Moses through the reeds of the river away from her.
But God always comes through with a blessing. He did then and He still does now. Again and again.
I found a lovely small cabin in the woods by a large body of water. Probably not surprising…
