The Perfect Birthday Gift

It was the perfect gift!

Excited for our birthday tradition of dinner out, I greeted my friend at the door with a big smile. She was smiling back at me with an even bigger grin as she handed me a birthday gift bag.

As I opened it, I was thrilled as my eyes saw this beautiful tree with deep roots. She had special ordered this for me to hang by my front door!

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If you know me, you know that trees are my thing! God has used them to teach me about my faith.

Trees remind me of the importance of depth, growing deep roots. 

Imagine with me a large tree. Its massive branches spreading out and pointing to the sky, pointing to their Creator. Now, I want you to imagine what is happening underground. This is the part that enthralls me the most. To match the strength and beauty of those enormous branches, this tree must have a giant root system that also spreads deep and wide. 

Do you have a root system like this tree? If a storm would come blowing into your life today, have you grown deep roots in your faith to be handle the storm?

You don’t want to wait for the storm before you put down roots. Deep roots are essential for trees to be able to endure strong winds and storms.  Without depth, gusts of wind can easily knock over a tree.  

Just like a tree needs depth to withstand the storms of life, God wants me to grow deep roots in my faith to endure difficulties in my life.  He wants the same for you too.

For me, trees are a powerful reminder to get rooted!  I love the verse in Jeremiah 17:7-9, “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”

I want us to be like this tree! Our leaves will stay green, and we will keep producing fruit even when facing hard times like a drought. Our roots are so deep in God’s Word that we are not bothered by the heat.  

Friend, are you rooted? Do you have depth in your faith?

My prayer is that we can all dig deeper into God’s Word and grow massive, deep roots. When drought or storms come unexpectedly, we will not be bothered, but instead we continue to produce fruit just like the verse in Jeremiah says.  Just like the tree my friend gifted me, I pray we can be rooted.

Love, Jodi