When Roots Run Deep: A Pandemic Anniversary Post
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— 6 min read
“I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
I know, I know...it's been a while.
I had plans at the top of this year to get back in the rhythm of writing and blogging and all things Living Worthy.
I had the wild, dreamy notion that somehow, the hot mess of this pandemic we've been living in would bippity-boppity-boo off the face of the earth, and we could get back to life as usual.
But obvi, neither of those things happened, considering we're dang-near 4 months into 2021 and this is my first spiel of written words. And Coronavirus still has just barely started to chill.
In the name of giving myself grace though, my family and I did make the cross-country move back to California from Georgia in January! When we were saying our goodbyes to friends + family at the tail-end of 2019, I felt this strong sense in my spirit we wouldn't be in Georgia long––I thought maybe 2, 3 years, tops. What I didn't expect was that almost exactly a year to the date, we'd be packing up our apartment and our crew of now 3 kids to come back to Cali.
While in Georgia, I got to vicariously live the plant mom life through one of my best friends from college that lived nearby. One day while at her apartment, looking at the scraggly roots of a plant she had in a clear, stubby glass vase, I realized that though the plant's leaves were lush, beautiful and blooming, if she didn't repot the plant in a bigger vase, that was the most it was going to grow.
To any onlooker, the plant would've appeared to be thriving, but they wouldn't have realized it had reached its threshold.
Only if it was uprooted and repotted within a deeper vessel would the plant have the potential to grow much bigger and broader because it's roots would have the opportunity to spread + grow deeper.
When we moved to Georgia, I was expecting big, bountiful blooms to pop up on my vines, for there to be a sudden influx of obvious blessings. Like some game-changing, out-of-nowhere, fall out the sky opportunity to suddenly find itself in my lap.
But what I now know is that this move wasn't about bearing greater fruit, but about fortifying deeper roots.
This year wasn't about having anything external, but was about becoming rooted in God in the core of my heart + soul.
And that, friend, is what I believe God wants to do/has done/is doing within us: deepening our roots in him.
Before the pandemic, I bet many of us appeared to be sittin' pretty in our cute terra cotta pots, ready for our Instagram close-up. (#pottedandpoppin, hello!) I'm sure many of us thought our faith, relationships, finances and future were all on the up and up. I'm sure many of us were content living life the way we were used to.
While I don't believe God caused the diabolical virus to sweep across the world, I recognize he allowed it, only with the intention to bring about good in us. I think God has sovereignly plucked us all out of our comfort, self-sufficiency and false securities in order to repot us, to do a deeper work down on the inside of us that wouldn't have been possible with us thinking life, as we knew it, was all to the good.
Sure, the repotting process is messy and likely a shock for the plant, but it is necessary in order for any further growth to take place. And it's the same for you.
So sis, don't miss it.
Don't miss the deep work God is trying to do down in you.
Don't fight it or dismiss it––whether it looks like deeper commitment or discipline, deeper renewal of your mind, deeper healing, deeper forgiveness of yourself or others, deeper vulnerability, deeper surrender to God.
Don't go another day, let alone another year, trying to cling to your teensy, comfy terra cotta, thinking life is better there. It may have kept you this long, but it will not be enough for the purposes God has put you on this earth for.
With every possibility of growth, there is the necessity of depth.
If you want to go high––in your connection with and love of God, yourself and others––girl, you've gotta go low.
It's officially been 1 year since our world was flipped upside down with the tidal wave that is Covid-19. Though this may be an anniversary where you'd rather cry than pop confetti, I'm wondering if there's still reason––though seemingly small + insignificant––to celebrate. Because while much of our external world hasn't changed much for the better, we have. And maybe that's what God has been after all along.
I know you probably do not feel happier, or stronger, or wiser. You may actually feel more anxious, or tired, or unsure. And that weakness that has left many of us feeling defeated. But where our strength ends is where God's begins, and it's my hope that you will lean more fully into doing life with God rather than thinking you can keep going it without him.
SO TELL ME: How’s your “repotting” process been? Where do your roots need to deepen? What kind of support do you think you need through this process?
