Weekly Words

Winter Roots

About three years ago I found myself gradually trying to develop horticultural skills and to cultivate a green thumb. Yes, though sometimes I didn’t believe it myself, I found myself planting flowers, fertilizing grass and shrubs, and watering trees. As I was continuing to educate myself on gardening and plant life, one of the lessons I found most intriguing has to do with the appropriate time to plant new trees. If I am not the only one who was totally clueless to this, then you will be just as surprised as I was to hear that Spring is NOT a good time to plant trees. Rather, planting works best in the fall. This is because the roots of a tree (the most important part of any plant) grow into the ground and are nourished best in the fall and winter due to the perpetual moisture in the Earth’s soil.

I witnessed this phenomenon first hand when I purchased and helped plant my very first tree. I planted my first and favorite tree, a Satin Japanese Maple, one fall afternoon. When I planted the tree it looked very scrawny and small, and what little leaves were on it shriveled and died in the winter. I was nervous as I watched my little barren tree suffer through the winter. However, to my amazement in the spring it bloomed bigger, better, and more beautifully. Though the winter was the worst time for the outward appearance of the tree, it was the best time for the roots to grow.

Such is the case with our spiritual lives. I truly believe that our spirits are the roots of our existence. Our growth, health, sanity, and spirituality are dependent on strong roots. Though the spring seasons of our life are filled with blooms and blessings, flowering and flourishing, it is the winter seasons in which our roots grow. It is our ability to endure cold, barren, and seemingly lifeless times that prepares us for our bigger, better, and more beautiful blooms in the spring. If your life is in a spring season right now, take time out to smell the flowers and enjoy the blossoms. But if you are in fall or winter take hold and take courage because your roots are growing!

Humbly in Christ’s Love,
Pastor B.A. Jackson