Those Roots!

Trees are really difficult to remove!

This tree is becoming a problem: it intrudes into the driveway to my home. It also is growing into the sewerage pipes of the neighbor and causing problems with his home’s foundations. So it is coming down.

Phase one was relatively simple : cut off all the branches and take them away. More difficult is getting the tree stump out – you see it has roots! And they help the tree to stubbornly cling to the ground.
Step one : Dig around the base to try to cut the roots.
Step two: Cut around the base to try to weaken its base.
Step three: Attach a rope to the bakkie and pull ...
OK back to step one!!!

And this led me to thinking about my life: as I look back there have been moments when I felt like the ground was being dug away from under me; it felt as if I was being cut into pieces by the many different demands made on my time and energy; it felt as if I was being pulled over by the pressures and responsibilities of my various commitments. But I have been able to keep going because of my roots.

I am rooted in my relationship with Jesus Christ. This is found in reading widely and rigorously- drawing on the reflections of people I agree with, and people who fundamentally disturb me. This is found in the worship of my God – sometimes with other people, and sometimes on my own. This is found in spending time with people who follow the ways of Jesus – some of whom are like me, and some of whom differ completely from anything I believe and do.

It is my roots in my Christian walk, nourished by the Spirit of God, which has kept me married, and kept me fathering my daughters, and kept me in the service of the Methodist Church, and kept me faithful to people who have asked for my help. Without these roots I will fall over.

And so I pray that my Creator will renew my roots for another day of this adventure called life.