Uprooted
In seasons when I feel like my roots are being torn from the ground beneath my feet, I need to remember that this whole earth, filled with soil for planting and tending and pruning, belongs to a good and kind and all-wise Gardener. Sometimes, He transplants to make way for more growth, more light, more thriving, more fruit.
Sometimes, God spreads out His resources, making way for a greater harvest than we could ever imagine from where we are standing.
Our truest roots are not in the places we come from or the places we have been. Our deepest roots are not in the people who have surrounded us with or in the ones we call our own. God, open our eyes to see how you root us and ground us within Yourself. You are the Vine, we are the branches. You are our dwelling place. You nourish us and cherish us and tend to us and carry us. It is in Your presence that we live securely—in Your presence that we thrive. You are our home.
Help us, no matter where we are and no matter where we go, to abide in You, to fix our eyes on You, to find our truest, deepest roots in You.
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” (Psalm 84:1-4, 10a ESV)
Psalm 4:8
Psalm 16
Psalm 84
Isaiah 26:1-9
Isaiah 41
John 15
2 Corinthians 5
1 Peter 2:4-5
Ephesians 3:14-21
Rather than thinking of ourselves as being uprooted in seasons of pruning or transplanting, of loss or of leaving, could we remember something together? Even when our hearts are grieving. Even when we can’t imagine letting go or moving forward. Even when our walls and shelves are empty. Even when our next steps are uncertain or unclear. When we make our dwelling place in Christ, our roots will be right where they have needed to be all along.
