Tuesday 4th February Hub Daily Notes

v 17. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

I was talking about trees recently with a very knowledgeable 6-year-old. In the middle of the conversation he rushed off to find a diagram about the size of trees and their roots. “This tree is very strong “ he said “because the roots go down really deep to hold it up straight.” My mind went back immediately to the devastating wind over 30 years ago that largely felled Chanctonbury Ring, revealing how shallowly rooted in the chalk the trees were. For all the magnificence of the top growth, which I had admired back in my own school days, they had no real strength because of their failure to develop deep roots.

One of the reasons for our weakness in pursuing a life filled with love is that our roots into God’s love simply do not go down far enough. We live in an age that looks for quick fixes and instant answers to issues of personal development. The reality is that roots take time to grow. (I exclude bindweed of course!) It will only be as we grow deeper in our appreciation of God’s great love that our own love for others around us will progress to maturity. Love grows through experiencing and appreciating love shown to us.

We shall look at this aspect of Paul’s prayer tomorrow, and reflect on how we can move on in experiencing this incomprehensible love for ourselves.