ROOT BOUND

Hannah’s onions, as they are called, were turned upside down to maintain the healthiest of the plant.  As Ken turned the pot upside down, that hard compacted ball came out of the pot with little resistance. It retained the shape of the pot. It seemed that the roots had replaced the potting soil. The tangled knot of roots added to the stress of the plant depriving it of nutrients.  The plant had no room for growth and could not reach its full potential.

As I sat watching, (aka maybe a little bit of supervising lol), Ken and I realized that the only hope for these onions was a fresh start and that meant replanting in a space that allowed for growth. I wonder how that plant felt as it was being uprooted from its most comfortable position. In so doing so it became vulnerable, fearful, maybe even downright scared.  The onions would need time to adjust to the new space to become fully rooted again.

Many life changes have transpired in this past year.  And on the surface, we can look relatively healthy. Under the surface we can be struggling to find hope, purpose and maybe struggling to find meaning in our own current faith context.  Maybe there is so much entanglement in our life that we have stopped growing. Without knowing it we have become spiritually root bound.

We desperately need the living water to flow in our lives once more, to cleanse us and breathe new life into our existence.

So many tangles in our lives have been revealed to us. Some need to be confronted. Others need time to heal and space to grow. Some need to be discarded. The process of uprooting unblocks God’s Light and plan for our lives. Old soil has to be shaken off and unhealthy roots have to be removed. Its hard and painful. We face uncertainty and more than our share of fearful moments and yes there are still some uncertain days ahead.

Our spiritual landscape is being thinned out —less focus on doing and more focus on simply following Jesus and planting Kingdom seeds. The dead roots have to go. The tangled knots should give way to peace and freedom to see a new spiritual territory. What that spiritual territory will look like brings hope and excitement.

Are you going through an unsettling time in life? Does it feel like the very things you are clinging to are slipping from your reach? Does it feel like you can’t take much more? It may be that God is doing a replanting in you.

God desires for you to flourish —to be all that He created you to be. He is a loving Father and unwilling to stand by and see you wither from lack of growth. He knows the plans He has for you, and is willing to do what it takes to free you to walk in that plan, even if it means momentary discomfort.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6