Tree in the Air

Tree in the Air

Have you ever seen a tree growing high above your head -- roots and all?  This was a first for me.  

When I see something unusual or strange, I often wonder what spiritual truth God might be offering.  As I looked at this very unusually placed tree high above the atrium on the cruise ship, I started thinking of its roots.  Ahh, roots!  Just like a tree, whatever a person is rooted and grounded in -- that will determine how strong and healthy, or how weak that person will be.

I'm quite sure the gardeners on the Celebrity Eclipse fertilize and water this tree on a regular basis, making sure it gets the correct nutrients to grow well within that metal ball.  Otherwise, it would quickly become weak and unhealthy.

Like a parable, when we apply these pictures to our lives, we ask the question, who and what is fertilizing and watering our hearts so that we receive the proper nutrients to grow healthy and strong?  Here's one of the things God says about roots in the Bible:  "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built upon Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving" Colossians 2:6-7. 

Just like a tree, if a person is not rooted and built up with the correct nutrients and water, he or she is likely to wither when difficulties and hardships come their way.  Jesus was speaking of seeds falling on stony ground when He said, "But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away" Matthew 13:6.  It's so important to take to heart the words of God in the previous verse in Colossians -- that we be rooted and built upon Jesus; that we have our faith established by studying and meditating on His Word; that we water our relationship with the Lord with prayer and thanksgiving.  These are the nutrients that make us strong enough to withstand when tribulation comes.

Here's what the prophet Jeremiah told us:  "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit" 17:7-8.

Now, those words paint an encouraging picture.  If we put our hope and trust in the Lord, we'll be rooted in a place where we do not need to fear or be anxious - even when rough times come.  Plus, we have the added bonus of still yielding fruit that will not only bless our own hearts, but will bless others and bring glory to God.  That's one of those win-win situations we want in our lives.

I'm going to end with powerful words God gave to Paul about being rooted in Jesus Christ:  "that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" Ephesians 3:16-10.