How deep do your roots go? Are they sturdy or flimsy? Long or short? Clumped together or spread out?
Trees are magnificent things, they stand tall and strong without faltering in most weather types. But just as trees are strong in the aspects that we can see above the ground, they also have roots that help them stand strong and stay healthy. These roots soak up the water and nutrients allowing the tree to grow. Especially here in Fiji there are many great, healthy tall trees. You have lots of iconic palm trees. For a palm tree, there is no “tap root” (or straight tapering root that grows vertically down and forms the centre root). A palm tree has an area called an initiation zone, right below the base of the tree. The roots grow from this area and are extremely fine. As they sprawl out, they eventually form a tight root ball. This makes the roots strong, as they bundle together to keep the tree firmly in place.
I’m obviously talking about trees because we can liken ourselves to a tree. We have to develop roots, which is our understanding and faith, helping us to grow to be strong and healthy spiritually. Our water and nutrients is God’s word, so we have to soak this up, growing our understanding and faith and making us strong and unwavering. As a result, this will help us withstand any weather, spiritually speaking, or any rough situation which may come our way. We can learn from the palm tree that we need to form a root ball amongst ourselves, bundling together to be stay strong. We can do this in our own ecclesias but it’s also amazing that we can do this between countries, and help each other along the way.
Samuel is a great example of this. His whole life was in dedication to his God, to our God. This dedication led him to do wonderful things such as lead and judge Israel. He anointed not one, but two kings of Israel. He also faced many hardships, but Samuel was able to withstand these because of the understanding and faith he developed in his early years as a child and young adult. He gained strong understanding and faith in God through sitting at the feet of Eli from an early age, soaking in what he was taught. He started growing his roots from a child. Even though Eli’s son’s acted wickedly Samuel stayed true to God and what God stood for. It says in 1 Samuel 2v26, after Eli rebukes his sons behaviour, that “Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favour with the LORD and also with man”. In 1 Samuel 3v19 it says ,“Samuel grew and the LORD was with him”. These were the attributes that showed what Samuel was like in his early years and in the last speech he gave to the children of Israel he passed on the following advice to the nation. In 1 Samuel 12v24 it says “Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all of your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you”
The years that span through teenage to young adult are especially important because these are the years in which our brain is most easily moulded. This means that in these years we should be soaking in as much of God and His values as possible so we too can become close replicas of his son Jesus. Further, we should also take care in what we listen to and watch as this can affect the way we act and talk to others.
We may not be literally sitting at the feet of our elders in our Ecclesia, but we should sit with them and ask questions, because they will have a better understanding of the God’s ways than we do and they have had many life experiences, making their faith as strong and precious as gold. We should not be shy to ask question even if they seem dumb, because this will help clear any misunderstandings that we may have. Plus other people may be wondering the same thing as you. We could also be taking notes about talks we hear if you can’t soak in the knowledge then and there, then reflect on your notes later on.
Finally, I just want to ask you the questions I stated in the beginning:
How deep do your roots go?
Are they sturdy or flimsy?
Long or short?
Clumped together or spread out?
God Bless