Strong. Powerful. Fruitful. Unbending. Growth.

Weak. Slowly decaying. Broken. Dying. Death.

Words flowed through my mind as I walked my dog in the neighborhood after a storm. It was quite a storm! Winds well over 30 mph, downpour of rain with plenty of thunder and lightning. The kind of storm that kept both of my dogs shaking and not wanting to come out earlier in the day. But as we walked among the aftermath, it was the trees that drew my attention. 

On the same street, I saw trees standing strong right next to one lying on the ground. Mangled, broken branches right beside a tree blooming after the storm. Trees near death and trees literally growing new fruit after the rain. Leafless trees stripped by the powerful wind were shrinking beside trees awakening and flourishing with new fruit. 

I couldn’t help but think that all the trees had gone through the exact same storm, yet there were two distinct groups: those struggling to survive and those thriving afterward. At first glance, the smaller trees are holding on for dear life, which makes sense since they were not as strong as the thick trunk of the tree in the other yards.

Then I realized there was a smaller tree thriving next to an almost identical tree that was broken and damaged after the downpour. Further down the road, a huge tree with a slice through it stood awkwardly next to another tall, mature tree, growing beautifully. Why would some of the trees be completely fine after the same gust of wind pounded them, while others were hanging on for dear life? Then it hit me, the only part I could not see that would make them different was their roots. Roots literally anchor a tree, as we all know, helping it withstand such a storm. 

That’s the moment I knew God was trying to teach and show me something: I cannot grow strong or bear real fruit without being firmly rooted in God.

Like many of you, I have heard that type of metaphor before, so before I lose some of you, let me tell you it hit me a different way this time, and I pray it will do the same for you. 

When I got home, I went straight to the true source, the Bible. After a few choice verses and books in the Bible, I landed on Psalm 1. It is a short but powerful Psalm that starts by reminding us where we stand, or root ourselves, which makes all the difference: “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.” (Psalm 1:1) It took me a little too long in life to recognize this. I allowed myself to be surrounded by people who were not directly helping me root myself in God. Honestly, I was engaging too much with the world and allowing others’ actions to influence me. I found release and distraction from my stressful life in things that were not from God. I allowed myself to stand with sinners, and I easily, without much thinking, joined in the sin. That is not to say that my friends hurt me intentionally or were bad people, but they were not supporting or challenging me in my faith journey. It was not until I started to surround myself with brothers and sisters firmly rooted in Christ that I even noticed that it was a problem that I needed to remove myself from. It is important who we surround ourselves with, those who will build us up in Christ, support our faith journey, cheer us on, comfort us, and challenge us too. Trees do not get to choose where they are rooted, but we do. So choose people who will strengthen your roots in God. 

As your roots start to grow, consider the next verse: ‘But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.’ (Psalm 1:2). Just as trees and plants need nutrients from soil, sunlight, and water, we need God to grow us. Reading God’s Word in the Bible and praying about it grows our faith. I have tried many times in my life to read the Bible and failed. I remember holding my children’s bible growing up, looking at the beautiful pictures and thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to try again.’ I would start in Genesis because I thought that was the only way, and I would quickly get frustrated and quit. Another time I recall was well into adult life; I knew technology would help me now. I’d listen to someone else read the Bible to me, and I could do it now. Well, that did not stick for me either. It was not until I pushed myself into Bible study at my church that I felt comfortable with it. I had been uncomfortable at the time because I did not know how to read the Bible, but I was going to do it anyway. Looking back, that is when I slowly started to fall in love with reading God’s Word. Before I knew what was happening, I was ‘meditating on it day and night,’ literally what the Bible says in Psalm 1. Each time I read the Bible and pray to God, my roots dig deeper and twist more into the rich soil God has laid down for me, and I am beyond grateful. When I show up daily for God, not necessarily huge moments but consistent and true connection to Him, that’s when I feel rooted. 

When we root ourselves in God’s Word and in prayer, we become ‘like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season’ (Psalm 1:3). The Bible and God never said we would not have storms and difficult times in our lives; we will. The trees could not avoid the storm either, but again, it was the well-rooted trees that stood afterward. Thinking back to the trees along our walk, some of the broken trees were actually beautiful. They were bent, mangled, and damaged, but they were not dead. Their roots ran so deep that they were anchored in the storm and withstood it. My life has looked that way, mangled and damaged but still standing. When your life is broken, and it seems like the storm has won, know that it all depends on your roots, too. If you are rooted in Christ, it’s just broken branches, not death. Jesus has conquered death so that we can have life. When we take strength from that truth, we can stand firm in the storms of our lives. We can stand strong and even start to bear fruit after storms, just as those blooming trees. 

Looking at those quickly decaying trees, I am reminded that God does warn us in scripture too, just like in Psalm 1:4-6: ‘But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.’ When we are not rooted in God, we are easily tossed around in the storm, and worldly problems and distractions pull us away from God. The slightest wind, the smallest problem, can knock us down and over if we do not have strong roots with God. That is the same reason that the huge tree seemed strong enough to withstand the storm when, really, its roots were rotted or decayed, and the roots were not firmly planted. We have to be careful about that too; we cannot just look strong in faith, we cannot just go to church and say the Bible verses. We have to firmly root ourselves in those verses and cultivate a deep relationship with God to endure the difficult trials we face in this life. 

I am taking these verses and this lesson God gave me on my walk, and every time I see a tree or plant, I will take a moment to ask myself, “How are my roots with God?”

With faith,
Melanie Drews
Paws on God’s Path