Root Bound

This weekend, while cleaning out some of last year's flower beds, I discovered some plant roots were still in a tight wad. Apparently, I forgot to loosen the root balls before putting them in the beds.

And since there are a bazillion great spiritual lessons to be learned through gardening and since I'm currently reading a book that talks about the emergent church and the good and not so good things about it.......

I got to thinking that perhaps the emergent movement is a response to being root bound, in a way. It would make sense in my own life. I think that the container my spiritual roots were growing in was too small for me - and I equated that container with God. It made me search for a bigger container - search for a bigger God. And so in that way, it was very good.

But the tendency perhaps is to throw away containers and flower beds and anything that hinders altogether. The danger of that is you are left with no protection, no community and very little recognizable purpose. I don't want to be planted in the middle of nowhere just to prove that I have absolute freedom. And I realize I do need the protection of being planted in a safe place, with others, where I can be tended to and bring joy to others.

So this is the thing - if our roots - our beliefs and the way we experience God -are in a container, that is too small. We need not limit Him that way. Allowing the containers of religious expression to dissolve and pushing past them to seek the depths of God is a good thing. Let me seek the depths of Him for the rest of my life and continue in the next life - I will never reach the end of Him. But let me also confess that I need the guidance of certain truth. Let me admit that I need to be planted by His house, by His people and I need the water and the Words he speaks. They are not meant to contain me, but to prosper me. They are not meant to restrain my freedom, but to protect me so that I may reach my full height.

I'm not sure if I'm saying this well or not. I was raised in a nursery in a container of limited understanding and religious practices, some of which had value, some did not. I thought that was God's way. I became root bound and unhappy with church and religion and God - unsatisfied. I wanted out, but didn't know where out led to. In my mind, I left. But it felt like being lost. Now I'm back, but with a new understanding (thank you, God). The container was not the ultimate destination for me.

The ultimate destination for me in this life is the earth. Someday it will be in the new heaven and the new earth. God encourages me to grow and search and question and discover and find and wonder with each new season. He never wanted to inhibit my growth. He urges me also to seek the things that will help me grow. And indeed, some of those things will look similar to the religion I followed before - church, prayer, Bible reading, speaking truth. But to understand that those things are not God - they are given for my benefit. God is bigger than any of those things - cannot be contained by those things.

It's time to accept the depths of a limitless, partly mysterious God - letting my mind wander in the wonder of the things of the Spirit, while holding true to the gifts he has given to help me grow, honoring truth and discipline in the life I have to live here on earth.