Rooted

Large trees are deeply rooted.  This rootedness takes time, it is very slow, can't be sped up, so growth is slow, yet in the end you get a glorious tree with luxuriant foliage, giving shade and coolness in the summer, often living depending on the species for centuries.

I think people grow like trees when it comes to answering the call.   It takes time for our true roots to grow deeply in the soil, with perhaps many mistakes and bad turns along the way.  Yet the call felt deep within, still leads us onwards, zig- zagging perhaps, but not so far off the road that some direction can still be discerned. 

The chaos along the way and yes the failures can be a help on our journey, if the enemy is not given into to.  What is the enemy?  It is despairing of ever making real progress.   The problem with that kind of thinking is it is based on a lie.   In the end progress is a mystery, for amidst the failures and chaos, if the heart is kept open, one day we seem to arrive at a ‘certain place' that was thought impossible.  So it is the hidden workings of grace, bringing order out of inner chaos and failures, were true progress is made.

It is love at work, we call it grace.   All we need do is keep open, stay on the road, if abandoned, well to get back on again.   The number of times one fails does not matter, for mercy, the kind of mercy that pursues us, is infinite.  Our mishaps are woven in the tapestry of our lives, it is what gives it depth and beauty.

Joy comes from knowing that simple ‘thing'.  We are loved, simple to say but hard to believe.  The revelation of Jesus is true, yet the closer one comes to that mystery the harder it can be to believe.  At least that is my experience.   So I have to choose to believe and dive in deeper.  My faith is a choice, though the roots are fed by the water of grace, the deep well of God with us. 

God loves all.   The mercy shown me is the same mercy that is shown to all.  So an open heart, filled with joy and the love of others is our road and no amount of failure will change that.   We are all called.  Some answer early, others later much later.   Yes we are loved, on a journey and united in ways that we can neither know nor understand at this time.