--freedom from complexity, intricacy, or division into parts
(dictionary.com)
Something that I have come to realize in recent weeks is how easy it is when we dream big and focus on the future to lose sight of what is real and simple and natural in our lives.
I spent some quiet time in the woods this weekend as I sat in the deer stand with my husband. During those hours I began thinking about the fast pace of life and where it has taken me over the past months and years since I have been a "grown up".... and I also thought about trees...
Trees are something I have been around and heard conversation about all my life while growing up in the woods and in a family that has been logging for generations. Trees are common and numerous and are found along the highway, in yards, in pots and of course in forests. Some stand alone and some bunch close together. As years pass and seasons shift, the months bring on various circumstances including wind and rain and sunshine and heat and ice. Trees experience conditions that can change and impact their appearance, growth, and strength.
What it was that really hit me when I was thinking about trees was, though their age, height, width, and colors may change as they experience life, their roots are always the same. Roots are where the plant originates from. It allows the tree to plant into the soil and gain what it needs to grow. Roots are their from such an early stage in the tree's life.They are sturdy and steady, they hold the tree still and safe throughout the weather; whether it be sunshine or storms. Roots provide the tree a firm base so that it can reach up into the world and allow it to stand tall. The tree may lean or pull away from the roots or limbs may become broken, but the roots do not go anywhere. The strength of the roots may be tested by wind and deprived by drought, but more often than not the roots still remain in place.
Why am I so interested in roots and trees?? It is this. I am realizing that God gave me specific roots. I am realizing that who I am in relation to this world can be altered, but my core is exactly what the Lord has provided me with to hold me steady. My appearance, my perspectives, my insight and knowledge, my possessions, my careers, these can all be altered as we go through and experience life. But there is a part of us that we sometimes forget to acknowledge, a part that we did not choose, a part that is solid and unchanging; our base.
Sometimes life seems to take me away from what is simple. What is necessary and important. What is free from complexity and intricacy. What is the basis of who I am and where I came from. No matter how much formal education I receive, no matter how far I live from my original home out in the country, no matter who I meet or what hobbies I develop, my roots still stand. My core is still what the Lord created it to be. There is no running from that.
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
Psalm 139:13-16
Right now, I am in awe of that which is simple. I am slowing down and taking in what is real, what is of the Lord, and realizing what is important. There is much to say for the efforts placed in what we do with our lives, whether we have the opportunity to develop a dream career or invest our time into something else. These things are only good and fulfilling when they connect with our inmost being; only meaningful when they build on who we are. It is the simple things that keep us in touch with our roots.
