Root Bound – Devotion 28

Things really changed in just one short day.  I have a hard time believing it only took a day for them to shine, as if they had taken a long breath of thanks.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to plant flowers in planters on the back porch.  I spend a lot of time there and my dog is at the age where he may not eat the flowers now.  So my youngest daughter took on the adventure of picking out and bringing home some new flowers.  She did a beautiful, colorful job of selecting just the right ones.  My mom came to help me plant them – we both love to dig in the dirt.

I had two flowers that were inside that needed to be planted in bigger planters.  They needed a bigger home and to be outdoors to receive all of God’s goodness.  One of them, in particular, was looking very sad.  The flowers were dying out, as they always do at some point.  The leaves looked good, so I was excited to see how they might flourish.  If you have ever re-planted something, you know there is usually a time of transition.  It takes the plant a little time to get accustomed to its new home.  It may even look a little pitiful before it begins to take shape.  So this morning, I expected to walk out onto the patio and see some transitioning plants, especially the one from inside the house.

What I found instead was that this plant seemed ecstatic about its new surroundings.  Even the seemingly dead flowers were standing tall.  It had taken on a new life.  The problem was the former pot was too small. The flower had become root bound.  It could not grow any longer.  It could not produce or even sustain what it had to offer because the life was held down so tightly.  It needed a place where the roots could spread out and life could begin anew.

As I found such joy in the new progress of this plant, I found something similar in my own life.  In our world, we try to buy stuff and surround ourselves with things.  We feel like if we have one more thing or have the latest gadget, all will be good.  When we hold onto those things and continue to fill our lives with stuff, we may just be squeezing the life out of ourselves.  We may be trying to find life in things that are actually constricting our life.  We just might find that life is really found when we are not being smothered by objects.  They might be making us root bound.

What might you need to get rid of in order to grow?  What things are holding you back from finding true life and joy?

Focus Scripture:

Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery.  Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery