Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Colossians 2:7
I probably said it before but it’s worth repeating, I am constantly involved in a never-ending war with my garden.
When I leave the garden battlefield, after hours of vicious and aggressive weeding I am covered in bruises, dirt and bleeding. You may think I am joking. I am not. In the past, when gardening, I have been stung by bees, buzzed by hornets, ripped by rose bush thorns and weeds that have sharp, needle-like thorns along their stem and along their leaves. Then there are the tools that topple over on me, the wheelbarrow I accidentally trip over, the branches that poke at me and the roots that won’t come out of the ground… It is full contact gardening.
One garden battle I’m having is with the wisteria vines that have invaded everywhere around the house. They sneak underground to travel up, under and around everything, if we are not vigilant.The vines mock us saying, ”Just try to pull us out. You tried it many times before and see where it got you!”
So going out, I am fully armed with my shovel, cultivator, wheelbarrow, large clippers, small clippers, boots and gardening gloves as I approach the enemy confidently but with full knowledge of the enemy’s strength and the force of the opposition.
The battle began. It was epic days of cutting, pulling, digging, pulling and digging. Then checking for retreating and hidden roots and root hairs. The outcome: I won this small battle in one small area but I know I haven’t won the war. I know this because those roots lie deep. I know this because one small piece of leftover root hidden away will spring back to life and stick it’s head up out of the dirt just to spite me.
So where does this lead me? Back to the Bible, of course! As I was faced with the resistance of the wisteria vines, I was thinking of how I would hear about being rooted in Jesus, rooted in the Lord and rooted in faith, deeply rooted, rooted, rooted.
Here I was digging, pulling and tugging with all my might and could not dislodge these roots. As I paused for a breather and some Tylenol, it occurred to me that I hoped to be as strong in my faith as these roots are in the dirt. That I could resist all the pulling, cutting, and assault on my faith with the strength that these roots have shown me. It was such a powerful example of what the Bible was telling me. Once again, there was a Bible lesson right there in the garden.
Epilogue: If you need an example of being deeply rooted, come over to my house and you can help pull out wisteria vines.
