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There once was a soybean farmer who was interviewed for his great harvest.  Despite difficult growing conditions, he had managed to cash in a remarkable load.  When asked about his success the old farmer replied, “Well, my plants have deep roots.”  The reporter, a bit disappointed by his answer, went on to ask him why that was so significant.  

The farmer went on to explain that when a soybean plant gets too much water, the roots never have a reason to grow.  They remain shallow and at the first sign of drought or strong winds, they won’t produce fruit or are uprooted and blow away.  

However, a good soybean plant, when hit with a season of little rain, will stretch out its roots in search of water.  The deeper and stronger those roots, the better the harvest.  The old farmer was thankful for the dry spells. He knew the dry spells, in the end, had brought about a great harvest.

Have you ever been in a dry spell?  You know, that sickening feeling that comes during those seasons of procrastination, frustration, exhaustion, etc. Times when you feel like you are in a funk and you wouldn’t see the upside if it smacked you in the face.  

Plain ‘ole worn out.  

We all experience times when we are not at our best.  We know we can do better, we know we were made for more, but we are just stuck.

May I challenge you to dig deep if you are there.  Stretch out your roots in search of some life-giving water!

I am learning to be thankful for the rough weeks. Weeks when my kids won’t sleep, the laundry is piling up, the workload is heavy and my time is too short. 

It is during those weeks that my God brings me to my knees and I am forced to realize I cannot do it all. But God can. I need power and wisdom that only exists through HIM. And because of that realization, I dig deep. I stretch my mind and fill it with knowledge. I allow God to search my heart and to show me what a mess I’ve made.

And the result?  Roots grow. Spiritual, emotional, mental roots that reach the water, the source of abundant and fruitful life.

I want to be anchored deep to that source.

These verses have so encouraged and motivated me this week . . . 

Jeremiah 17:5-8 (emphasis mine):

Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.  For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Grow yourself some roots.

Copyright © 2020 by Jaclyn Rowe @ https://www.lifeinprogressministries.org/grow-yourself-some-roots/. Used with permission. No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org.