After a summer filled with…summer, “neglected” was a good way to describe the cabin landscaping. I crawled through the beds pulling baby cotton trees one by one. There were hundreds, and they were difficult to pull up because they had been growing for a while. The side of the cabin was beginning to look like a cotton tree farm. It made me think, “Someone has a greenhouse that looks just like this with rows and rows of these.” They were great trees, but they were in the wrong place.
Those little trees were making a lot of effort to grow in a place that was not for them. How many times are we putting down roots, filling our weeks with good things, but not growing in the places that God meant for us? So much wasted effort.
Some of the trees were difficult to pull. It reminded me that the longer I stay where God does not intend for me to be, the longer I let my heart remain in a pattern or place that is not for me, the more difficult it will be to pull up my roots from the soil. I long to be swift in the follow of my God.
It causes me to ask, “Lord, where do you want me? I want to put my roots exactly where You would want me to grow.” I’ll ask again and again, and I will trust my God to whisper where He would want me to grow.
Let’s refuse to waste our effort growing in places that were not meant for us, and long to grow as our God intended.
As the fall takes shape, it may look different than we expected. All that is expected from the One that we follow is for our roots grow with our gaze set on Him — reaching for Him, reliant upon Him for our growth.
Let’s proceed open-handed. It may be with your kids’ activities, the friends you surround yourself with, maybe even the Bible study you were considering taking the risk to try out. “Lord, where would You like my activity to take root?” In the follow of our God, our efforts will never be wasted.
This is the free life. This is the life I never knew I always wanted.
