Planted

A couple of weeks ago someone I know was doing a major landscaping overhaul. They unexpectedly gave me 4 large hydrangea bushes along with about 15 other uprooted plants. I was grateful... but wondered whether I could keep them alive in the middle of the August heat wave we were having at that time.

The person who gave me these wonderful gifts, gave me a single instruction for keeping them alive. He simply said, "Water them -- a lot!"

So I did. I carefully watered them, some times 3 or more times a day!

During the week or so that followed, I fought to keep these uprooted plants alive while they waited in my backyard  for the landscaper to work us into his schedule.  During their time out of the soil, the hydrangea petals withered and fell off. Then the leaves quickly turned from a healthy green to a crispy brown.

Each day as I watered, God reminded me how similar I am to those plants when I am not rooted in Him. Apart from the rich nutrients of His Word, I cannot survive in the stifling conditions of the world around me, and fruits like love, joy, and peace quickly dry up and die.

In Psalm 1, David describes the alternative to going it alone in this world, as a believer who finds great joy in God's Word while meditating in its truths day and night. Notice how he describes this follower as being planted.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:3

My plants are all in the ground now, and the landscaper told me that although most of their leaves died while out of the ground, they are still alive and should thrive now that they are once again where they belong... PLANTED.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. Colossians 2:6