Deep Roots

Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed; some of the seeds fell by the way side and were eaten by birds, some of the seeds fell on stony ground and immediately started growing, but when the sun came up it was scorched because it had no root, some were choked by thorns, and others fell on good ground and yielded fruit.  

The apostle Paul prayed "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."  

Are we rooted deeply in the good soil of God's love?  Do we, as the song says, know whom we believe, and are we confident that He is able to keep what we have committed unto Him?

My family and I are avid gardeners, which means we are experienced weed-pullers and there's hardly ever a day in the summer when you won't find us in one of the gardens with warm earth under our fingernails, set out to vanquish our resilient foes: creeping charlie, morning glory, crabgrass, lambsquarters, horseweed, and an occasional thistle (*ouch*!)

Some of the weeds come out easily.  Creeping charlie can almost be rolled up like a carpet, and some of the lambsquarters are actually fun to pull.  But some weeds I have to tug... and tug... and tug...and then when the weed finally comes out and I fall backwards with the weed in hand *kerplunk.*  I have to call a sister to help me uproot other weeds, and when even teamwork fails, we bring out our shovels and start digging!  When my grandparents first moved to their place in the country, it was overgrown so badly that they had to cut down the horseweed with a chainsaw!  Now those weeds had deep roots!

Unfortunately, not all of the good plants in our garden have strong roots.  After a heavy spring rain and wind storm (you've really missed out if you've never seen and heard sheets of rain whipping in the wind across the countryside, hail falling, lightning flashing, and thunder roaring), our sweet corn is often pretty badly beaten and knocked over because it's roots aren't deep enough.

We need to trust in Jesus, and not let the world uproot our faith.  We need to be strong in the Lord and deeply rooted in his Word so that instead of being knocked over when the storms come, we stand firmly in the love of God because we not only have read about our Savior, we know Him.