Blog

Our Roots & Fruit

Posted 4/12/24

I know everyone is already on their way (at least mentally if not physically) to the Semester Break so I’ll keep it short and just share the recent post from The Palest Ink with you.

The title is Planted and Rooted. Is your life rooted, grounded, and settled in the Word of God? Is your child’s? An excerpt from the post:

“It is profitable to take personal inventory, paying close attention to your life’s surroundings. Are your relationships, systems, and work robust and God-honoring? I am not suggesting that healthy things are easy, but are their roots strong, abiding in Christ and ordered by Scripture? If something seems off, investigate.

Has a relationship soured? Is your home fraught with tension? Are you spinning your wheels trying to outwardly improve something that is unhealthy at a core level?

It is crucial to look squarely at what is and name it. Have eyes to see what is root-rotted, and spiritually dead. Some things might appear healthy for a season but are not. Diseased roots, left alone, will give hints.

Sweep up and toss away the godless debris scattered in your life, heart, and home. Take stock, rather than noticing with an Oh well! If you ignore the decay, the plant will wither and die.

“Abide in Christ, feasting on prayer and Scripture, and watch as your roots grow strong, deep, and anchored. And then, when life crashes and soil and ceramic spill and scatter, you will be prepared, healthy at the root level, as God transplants you into fresh soil, to thrive again.”

Most of the non-educational things we have to spend so much time addressing and dealing with reveal hearts that are unrooted and rotting.  Apart from God’s Word, they are already adrift on the roiling seas of humanism and secular worldviews.  They have been addicted to a love for the things of the world.  

Just as the flight attendant on a plane instructs adults to put their own oxygen mask on first before helping their children with theirs; so, too, must we first make certain our hearts are planted and rooted before we can help our children do the same.

What have your children learned from your example?  Self-love or selflessness?  Rebellion against or submission and honor to authority?  Love for or neglect of God’s Word?  Envy or contentment?  Contention or peace?  

Whatever we plant will produce its fruit in time.  Let’s plant carefully roots that run deep ever reaching toward the nourishment of God’s Word.