The other morning God and I had a “coffee date” by the lake after I took my son to work.
Here is one set of notes I jotted down, that He spoke to my heart.
I so needed this. ❤️
Sometimes in a season of growth-
whether growth in family,
in business,
in ministry,
or even growth in wisdom through study,
it’s easy to neglect the growth that matters most—RELATIONSHIP.
With God.
And with our c.o.r.e people-
the ones that keep us rooted & grounded in Him, and in His love for us,
whenever we start to believe
that the success of our mission
depends more upon what we do
than it does basking in what He has done for us, and spilling that out into a weary world.
So- here is what He showed me in our quiet time, as my eyes came to rest upon the shadow of a tree’s branches on the ground, which looked just like roots!
———
The sun (Son) reminds us, shows us
that there are important roots beneath the surface that hold the tree up.
When children draw trees,
they never draw the roots.
Likely, they don’t even think of them.
Adults who have grown up to not consider the roots can also be this way.
And- even once we know it’s easy to forget.
There are too many visual distractions.
That’s why the sun reminds us.
When it shines through the branches and casts shadows on the ground, it’s as if it’s painting a picture of the roots for us to see!
Even a very small tree would fall over without roots.
Once we grow and become “family trees” and have branches and other parts of the tree depending on our ability to stand- we can feel so much pressure to hold things up.
We fall over and over.
We NEED roots.
We need to be implanted beneath the surface!
Imagine a stick, stuck into the ground, trying to stand.
If only a shallow depth in, the stick will fall easily. The slightest wind will knock it over.
So- How much of a percentage “buried” (rooted/planted/hidden/secured) will keep it more solid?
How much of our time needs to be spent “grounded” (in our heavenly home, in the presence of God alone, spiritually dwelling in the room that he has gone to prepare for us?)
The bigger our stick, our tree is, the more we need to be stubborn about having that “grounded” time. Especially if others are depending on us.
We can’t give anyone the best of ourselves if we don’t first go get the best (love found in quality time with God) for ourselves.
It’s not negligent to them, it’s IMPORTANT.
It shouldn’t be seen as competing with the other things in our life for our time, it should be seen as supporting them. Just like roots don’t compete with branches, they support them and hold them up! 🌲
Excited to embrace this once again.
Sometimes we all need a reminder.
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