Roots

9:33 AM Posted by Nancy

When we bought our house 8 years ago, we knew one of the basement walls was crumbling a little, but we saw that pouring another foundation wall would not be complicated or expensive to us do-it-yourselfers. So we pressed forward with our purchase. Years past and the wall stayed pretty much unchanged until a couple years ago when we introduced a new kitten into the family. When we saw piles of sand along the floor by the wall, we figured out that the kitten had been scratching at the wall and it was being reduced to a pile on our basement floor. Taking a closer look, we realized that the problem wasn’t really with the home's structure, or even the kitten (although he was helping the process along quite effectively) we had little hairy tree roots coming through the wall! Sure enough, we have 2 large trees in our front yard just 10-12 feet from the foundation wall.
Now, what amazes me about this is that those roots, regardless of how thin and hair-like their stature, were literally destroying the foundation of our home. As usual, my mind immediately begins to compare the activity in my basement to life in general. This parallel came to mind:

The tree, using the resources that God provides like rain and sunshine, grows where we can see and where we cannot see. Underground pushing things out of the way, conquering whatever tries to stop it from growing and fulfilling God’s will for it. Even a solid concrete wall 8 or so inches thick was not too much for my little tree roots.
Like the tree, we have resources provided by God as well, (His word, perseverance, strength to do ALL things through Him, humility, self-control) In the same way it is possible for us to conquer even our strongest oppressors!
I’m pretty sure that it has taken many years for those roots to turn my foundation to sand, but they never give up, pushing onward and forward. As long as the tree lives, there is never any temptation to quit. To see those fragile little fibers finally poking their heads into my lower level is a reminder to me of God’s strength in our weakness. Those roots wouldn’t be where they are today without it.

God uses things around us to illustrate his word every day, if we’re open to seeing it. I’m glad I stopped before I soak my basement wall with Round-up to hault this underground invasion, to see the wonders of the Father at work and praise His name for his power and strength in my weakness.


Psalm 18:1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me; [1]
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

0 comments:

Post a Comment