Roots. All living things have them. Those deeply burrowed veins that sprawl in dark places, hidden from sight. Their purpose, to maintain support and sustain its living thing.
Have you ever thought about your own roots?
Where do you come from?
Where do you belong?
What are you growing?
This summer while vacationing in Colorado a rancher taught me something new. It was while my family and I were horseback riding, if you remember, and my mind was a wee bit wrapped up in overcoming a little fear thing. But the rancher knew this, he was wise, and so he broke the thought with a lesson. Somewhere on the side of that mountain trail, he slowed our team of horses, mysteriously guiding them to form a broad huddle near a grove of Aspen trees.
The rancher began inquiring our knowledge of the Aspen’s.
“Who knows what these Aspen are capable of producing?” he asked as he briskly ran his hand down the tree’s trunk.
“Asprin!” I mildly shouted as I recalled learning from my Girl Scout days. My Main Man raised an eyebrow, apparently my know-how impressed him. That rarely happens. I sat taller in the saddle.
“Right,” he smiled, “they also produce a natural sunscreen.” The rancher explained while he wiped his chalky palm over his face.
“Now, does anyone know where this Aspen comes from?”
Silence.
“Look,” he pointed across the rocky skies to a neighboring mountain range. “Do you see the Aspen’s over there?”
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| Photo Credit: www.mccullagh.org |
“Their roots are all connected. They belong to each other, one family.”
The rancher went on to explain the complex root system of Aspen trees. A living colony with roots so completely intertwined and vast, yet, connected. A colony that lives for thousands of years off of one parent, passing their shoots onto the next of kin, sustaining a new and living generation.
The Aspen.
Oh, how we are like the Aspen.
Connected.
Me and you, a colony, a nation of brothers and sisters. Alive. We are tethered to this one parent, God, who is before the beginning and up to the very end, the essence of our life.
I believe there is something in each one of us that longs to understand who we are and where we belong. This hunger and thirst can only be quenched by the Aspen-like roots system that God passes onto us through Jesus.
Contrary to worldly opinion this is not a rules based system.
Contrary to worldly opinion this is not a performance based system.
The rules were broken long ago. The work’s been done. And because of this we can be grafted into the system.
Believe it or not, this is right where you belong.
