Planted and Rooted

Last May we purchased our first home.

It was an exciting time and filled with all sorts of new responsibilities like a mortgage, managing utility bills, mowing our own lawn, taking care of our landscaping, and other things that you never think about or take care of until you have a house.  I was so excited about our landscaping, because when we moved in there were nice beds made but all the plants had died over the previous winter freeze- which meant that I got to go pick out all new plants.  I've always loved the idea of gardening but never have put that desire into practice and here was my chance!  I got gardenias and camellias and then some annual flowers to plant.  After it was all finished I felt so accomplished, it was so energizing to do something with my hands and then stand back and it look at what I had planted. 

When spring came around the corner this year, I was again excited to freshen up our landscape with new flowers and color.  So when I went to plant all the new flowers I thought it would be nice to have Jeter outside with me.  I put his rope outside, hooked him up and started organizing the plants.  Next thing I know, I turn around and Jeter and his rope are wrapped around one of the gardenia bushes.  He ran toward me and pulled the plant right out of the ground!  I realized it would not work having him outside with me, put him up and came back to the uprooted plant.  When I looked at it though, the roots hadn't been uprooted at all.  The plant had NEVER taken root over the past year.  I was amazed because it looked just as healthy as the other plants, and looking at it you would never know that it wasn't rooted in the ground and really growing.  

Jesus tells a parable about the seeds planted in different soil ~ Matthew 13:5-6 "Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil.  It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root."  

I wonder how many of us look good to others on the outside?  When compared to those around us we look like we are healthy and growing, but really we can be pulled 

out so easily because we're not rooted.  

Jesus continues in Matthew 13:8 "still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop- a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."  

The soil that he was describing in the parable was about our hearts and how we receive the word of God.  Jesus explains in Matthew 13:20-21,23 "The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time.  When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away... But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it.  

This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown." 

John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, 

so neither can you, unless you abide in Me." 

Jeremiah 12:2 "You have planted them, and they
 have taken root: they grow and bear fruit"

It is the condition of our heart that allows God's
Word to take root in our lives.  He causes
growth and fruit to bear if we remain in Him!