Salty Sister Speaking : Roots

Salty Sister Speaking : Roots: We bought a house in late December of last year and we are just now getting around to working on the landscaping. Last weekend it was my go...

Roots

We bought a house in late December of last year and we are just now getting around to working on the landscaping. Last weekend it was my goal to remove two overgrown, unsightly, out of place shrubs. My son used a chain saw to cut them down and I took on the adventure of removing the roots and I had not idea what I had taken on.

I began with three tools, a shovel, an ax and a mattock.  I first began with the shovel, digging around the root to loosen the dirt and as I moved around the shrub I thought, “This must be how Satan begins to work on us, a little at a time digging all around our rooted faith.” The more I dug the more I thought how rooted this old out of place shrub had grounded itself. I worked and worked and worked and with each dig and swing I became more determined to get this root out of the ground to make room for my new landscape design. I was offered help multiple times but I wanted, for some reason, to conquer this stubborn root.

After about an hour I finally thoughs I had broken loose every root I reached down to pull it out with no luck. I got on my knees and used my hand to push back the loosened dirt only to find a hidden root. This root was unlike the others and quite larger than I expected. Its growth pattern was unlike the rest as it went directly under the shrub and curved under in such a way the every tool I had couldn't touch it. Of course, I wase more determined than ever to remove this root.

As I was pulling, chopping, digging I could feel the hint of a little burning on the palm of my hand and I knew a blister was forming but I wasn't giving up. As I continued God spoke to my spirit and provided me with a sweet message that spoke deep into my heart. You see when I first began trying to remove this root I was thinking, “God, I hope my faith is this strong and this immovable.” But strong faith wasn't the lesson He was teaching me.  Here is what he revealed to me.

This root, that come from and overgrown, unsightly and out of place shrub represents the many strong holds that we have in our lives and hearts. Strong holds that we think may be meaningless, so we haven’t taken the time to rid them from the depths of our hearts. That last root, the one that was the strongest and the hardest one to reach showed me that sometimes these strong holds are much more deeply rooted than we realize and ridding them from our heart will take a lot more effort than just saying, “Ok, I am giving this up or I am not going to do that anymore.” No, it takes time and energy and determination and most importantly a desire.

Finally, I removed the root and wow, was it ever gratifying.  With the unsightly stubborn root in my hand I looked down to see a large empty hole that replaced the unsightly out of place shrub. So, here is the second part of God’s little lesson. When we remove such unsightly, out of place strong holds that are so deeply rooted in our heart it will open up more space for God to move into.

While removing the root was very gratifying what was not so gratifying was the blister in the very center of the palm of my right hand.  We sure do take things for granted until we can’t use them. This blister, a week later still requires a bandage and my hand still feels the effects of my hard work in removing that unwanted root.  All weeklong I have had just about everyone I have encountered ask me, “What did you do to your hand?” and when I begin to tell them the story of the unsightly, unwanted root, I was amazed at how many people said, “Why didn't you just cover it up with something else?” I would simply, reply, “Because it was right in the specific place that I wanted to plant something else.” While I must admit covering it up with mulch or rock would have been much easier, just like covering up sin or strongholds in our hearts, I wouldn't be able to plant what I wanted where I wanted.

The last lesson I learned and am reminded of every time I try to use my right hand is that, just like I earned that blister from my hard work I will encounter some spiritual bumps and bruises and even some blisters that may remain tender for a while but oh how sweet it will be when God can now occupy more space inside my heart.

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Have you asked God, lately to search your heart and show you what is taking up space that He wants to claim?