The Roots of Your Family Tree

imageimage

June 20, 2010

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.  But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.  He is like a tree planted by streams of water.  Psalm 1:1-3


    I’ve had a lot of experience digging up tree stumps.  When I was 12, our family moved out to the country; to the woods of western Massachusetts, where my Dad and I cut down a lot of trees for firewood and to clear some space for a yard.  And that meant we had to dig up the stumps.  Most of the stumps were easy to dig up; some were very tough (back then I never even heard of a stump grinder).

But without doubt, the hardest stump I ever worked on was just a couple of years ago in Phoenix, AZ.  I don’t know if you’ve ever seen palm tree roots, but there are hundreds of them and none much bigger around than a finger, all growing close together establishing a tenacious grip on the earth.  After hours of digging, we finally just cut the stump into fourths like a pie, wrapped a chain around each segment and pulled them out with a truck and 1 ton chain hoist.  It wasn’t easy.  But it was easy to see how these trees can survive serious hurricane force winds and stay firmly planted.

As we worked away, I couldn’t help but see a parallel to our lives.  If we are going to be strong in the face of difficulties we need strong roots.  We need to have such a tenacious grip on the things that really matter so that when the storms of life come, we will stay firmly planted.

  When you think about the roles and responsibilities of a Dad, one of the most important is to help your children develop those kinds of roots.  A friend told me recently of some advice an older man gave him regarding his role as a dad.  He told him, “Don’t prepare the path for your child, prepare your child for the path.”  That’s great advice.  We won’t always be around our children to protect them from adversity, but we can root them in a relationship with God.  And God will see them through life’s storms.

Father’s, today you are being honored; be worthy of that honor by helping your children develop strong roots that will see them through the storms of life.
“Father, we honor you today for giving us your truth.  Give us the strength to hold on, and when our strength fails, thank you for your love that holds on to us. ”      - John

John Wheeler ~ Denver, Colorado                                                                       (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

John Wheeler is the University Church of Christ congregational minister.