uprooting

the other night God began to speak to me about uprooted trees.

Matthew 13:31-32

Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

sometimes He uproots us because there’s other places that He needs us to be- other places that are in desperate need of what God has imparted to us: the cool shade, the branches to rest in, the fruit to pluck and savor and be fed from, the trunk to lean against. they specifically need us- this certain tree- in their lives for a particular season, and of course for the tree it’s never easy being dug out; it’s never easy for our roots not to be sunk into earth we know, dangling in the air while moved to a new site, exposed to the hot sun and frigid evenings while we transition and move, then settling those roots into foreign dirt, re-acclimating to the climate, acquainting with new forestry.

but the point is, the tree doesn’t exist for itself. we don’t exist for ourselves- to give ourselves life- to be content with ourselves or our environment. we exist so that God might give us of His life to give and impart that life to others- in whatever soil we find our roots wound down into. God has us grow in specific places so that we may be ready and prepared for the next site in which He wants to plant us.