Being Rooted in Christ

I love watching my garlic, lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes burst through the rich soil in the springtime.  That first showing of life found in the green leaf reminds me of God’s power and wonder.  As I was thinking of what was growing on top of the earth, I marveled at the reality of the root system that sustains a plant or tree.

I remember reading about the Chinese bamboo’s root system.  I learned that if you plant a bamboo sprout in the ground, that nothing happens for four or five years!  For the first year you water and fertilize, water and fertilize but you don’t see any evidence of growth.  None whatsoever! 

It is not like putting a garlic clove in the dirt and in a week you see the beginning of life with the green shoot pushing through the earth.   With the Chinese bamboo, you look at the dirt to see if anything is cracking through and you see nothing.

You can quickly become discouraged after carefully planting the bamboo hoping to see signs of life.  After two years there is no reward but you continue to water and fertilize and nothing happens even into the forth year.

You start comparing it to the other plants that have grown leaps and bounds and discouragement sets in when you look at your unproductive land and a tiny shoot finally sprouts from the bulb. You can sing to it, dance, talk to it, encourage it but that won’t help.

When you are ready to give up, about the fifth year, things change dramatically, something happens. Change, growth is seen and in a six-week period, the Chinese bamboo tree can grow as much as three feet per day until it grows up to ninety feet!

During the long years when there appeared no visible results, the bamboo tree was developing a mature, long reaching root system that would sustain and nurture its explosive growth. Nothing can grow without a good root system.

I never remembered thinking of any root system as a thing of beauty, but roots are absolutely vital to a plant’s health!   And as the root system is vital to the bamboo, we need to be deeply rooted in our Orthodox faith, which is vital to our health!  St. Paul tells us to “continue to live in the Lord, being rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”. Col. 2:7

We too have a root system and sometimes we feel and see that there is little or no growth in our life.  Instead of becoming discouraged and giving up we need to learn from the bamboo tree that we must never stop watering, fertilizing and caring for our souls. We must always turn our hearts to God so we might uncover the true meaning of life. 

We can’t become rootless living aimlessly on rocky places.  We can’t chase the latest fad, technology, health or weight loss gimmick.  We can’t be deceived with the newest ten steps to fulfillment idea, or Oprah’s seven secrets to happiness.  We need true nutrients of our Orthodox faith to sustain our life.  Our life’s root system must ‘continue to be grounded in the Lord’!  Our roots need to be watered and fertilized often by centering in Christ through prayer, reading God’s word, receiving the sacraments, reading the lives of the saints. 

As the plant or tree finds stability and nourishment in its root system, we must find stability and nourishment in God’s promise of His love!  St. Paul says, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” Ephesians 3:17-19

You see when our roots are firmly planted in God’s love, we will have the power, like all the saints to grasp miracles!!  We will grasp how infinite, how wide, and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus! Though love is invisible like the root of the tree and the foundation of the building, it sustains our spiritual life. Love is the root of our spiritual life. It provides us spiritual nutrition and makes our life fruitful and abundant.

If a tree has deep and stable roots, it cannot be knocked down or pushed over. So when there are bad times, when we experience the storms in life as found in anxiety, pain, grief, or sadness we should feel comforted knowing we are rooted in Christ and we will have a solid foundation on which to stand.  We will be able to respond to conflict, anger, chaos, and tragedy with God’s grace grounded in the Holy Spirit knowing our church family, the saints and friends, and God's word are there to support us.

Let’s remember that blessed are those who trust in God.  They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.  It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves will stay green and during a drought, it will not be anxious and will not cease to bear fruit.  Jeremiah 17:7-8.  

Being deeply rooted in a relationship with Jesus living out our Orthodox Christian faith, we will stand strong during time of difficulty or hardship. May we continue to rededicate our whole life to Christ our God and become firmly rooted in His love!

+fr. tom