REFLECTIONS

Deep Roots

Our Roots Grow Deep, written by Carmen Bennett, my fourth-grade schoolteacher, is a history of the sparsely populated county in northwest Texas where I grew up. Inside the book’s front cover, her personal note to me reads in part, “Richard, your Cottle County heritage is a rich one. May you and your nice family heap honor upon it.”

Indeed, my heritage from the place of my birth is rich. Still today, the legacies of many from there stand tall in my eyes as life examples to follow. But among those many life lessons is that standing tall is no assurance of deep roots. A quick drive through the Texas hill country exposes many giant Red Oak trees fallen in the shadows where they once stood mightily among the landscape. The branches and leaves once grew stately and tall above their root systems that spread widely along the surface of the earth. But their roots did not grow deep. When the ground shifted or the winds blew, they had no source of strength to anchor them. It’s also too often true in our own lives.

Life, it seems, is lived on the surface. At least, that’s what almost everyone sees. We even tend to define ourselves by what is visible to those around us. We walk on the earth; we flower and bloom above our roots that grow widely along the surface. The world may celebrate the stature we gain, but it’s the depth of our roots that anchors us when the ground shifts or the winds blow.

In our world we become consumed by the matters on the surface of life. We are charmed by social status, intellectual achievement, athletic feats, and wealth amassed.  Our concerns are more about how tall we stand in the eyes of others rather than how deeply rooted our relationship with God has grown.

Like the legacies of those of Cottle County who still stand tall in my life, the lasting legacy we leave to this world will not be measured by how tall we stand in the eyes of those around us. Our legacy will be measured by deep roots grounded in our Lord.  He is the source of our strength. In him, the ground may shift, and the winds may blow, but the legacy we leave to this world will still be standing when our roots grow deep.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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