Rooted in Him

Here's something I wrote about a year ago, but never posted anywhere.  I hope it blessed your heart and draws your eyes to our Jesus.  :)

During my last few weeks in Uganda, I was struggling with the feeling of having no roots, so to speak.  For a year I had been planning this trip to Uganda and now it was almost over.  I knew that God had called me to go to Uganda for a short season, and that when that season was over I was called to go home to serve my family, but I had no indication of how long or short that season would be.  My thought pattern went something like this: “I love this place, but how can I fully invest when I know that I will be leaving so soon?  I can’t really put down roots.  It will just make leaving that much harder.  And when I go home, I can’t really put down roots there.  For all I know, God may call me somewhere else next month.  I just want to know where God is going to have me long term so I can know when and where to put down roots.  I could stay at this orphanage for the rest of my life and be very happy.  I could go home and be with my family, or pursue getting involved with a ministry, and be very happy.  But everything in my life right now is so passing, so uncertain, lasting for only a short season.  Why can’t I at least just get married so I can put down roots, invest, and have security in that relationship?”  

One day, with these questions running through my mind, while sitting on the floor of my room at the orphanage, the Lord spoke so clearly to me from Psalm 1: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!  But His delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf also does not wither; and in whatever he does he prospers. . . .”  I know I had read this Psalm many times, but never before had it spoken to me and gripped me like it did that day.  Was I truly delighting in the law of God?  Was it my constant meditation?  Was I seeking to be rooted in something, to have some security, apart from the faithfulness of God?  Indeed I was, and as the Lord continued to use these verses to speak to my heart He reminded me of the truth that this world is not my home.  I must be rooted in Him alone, for He alone is eternal.  It is His life within me that bears fruit.  There are many good gifts that God gives to His children, but these cannot be my security.  If I am rooted in Him, then it does not matter for how long or short a season I am in a place, I can fully invest and give of myself, trusting that He will use me and bear His fruit through my life.  I must be rooted in Him, secure in Him, satisfied in Him.  He must be my constant source of life.   

This world is not our home.  No matter how long or short a chapter of your life may seem, it is but a passing vapor.  This entire life is but a short breath in view of eternity.  We were not made to feel entirely at home here.  We were not created to be rooted in this world.  We were made for heaven.  We were created for our Jesus.  We are to be firmly rooted in Him, finding all we need in Him.  And then, wherever He leads us--Uganda, Colorado, home, marriage, singleness--be it for a short season or a long season of this life on earth, we can fully invest, fully give ourselves, fully spend ourselves.  He is love, joy, peace, life . . . in abundance.  He is more than all that we need.  If it is His life flowing through our veins, if it is His streams of living water that we are rooted in, then we will be fruitful, having something beautiful and life-giving to give in every place.  We can fully love and fully invest in those around us, knowing that His well never runs dry.  And when we turn a page and enter into a new chapter of this life, we can have full confidence and security in the One we are rooted in, knowing that He is all that we need in this season as well.

So let's seek Him and pray that He would open our eyes to see Him and our ears to hear Him, that He would give us a right understanding, love for, and delight in His Word.  Let's meditate on His Word, think on it, speak of it.  Let's ask to be even more firmly rooted in Christ, to know Him more. Oh, that we would know Him and be known by Him in increasing intimacy, that we would be fully devoted to our King, rooted in Him, bearing His fruit in abundance, that we would desire Him and Him alone, that He would be seen in and through us.  We need our Jesus to come and do a work in us, to change us according to His Word, to make us the way we ought to be.