Rooted and Grounded

Every morning as I am pouring my coffee, I look out my kitchen window to see an oak tree standing along the banks of the Opequon creek. Undoubtedly, this oak has been through many a Spring flood, as it bears two markings. One is about six feet up its trunk and the other is about seven feet up. We were told when we bought our house that these markings were from previous floods that consumed our backyard and even a cabin that once stood there. The tree, however, remains.

This oak represents what we have in Christ. As we are rooted and grounded in Christ, and we withstand the mighty floods in our lives, we stand firm. The waters subside, and we can bear the markings of those flood waters, but we still stand firm. We survive the test of the flood with hands reaching to the heavens. Our roots so firmly grounded in Christ's word and our faith, that not even the rushing waters of a Spring flood can tear us from the soil. We can feel washed out, washed up, caught in the whirlpool, saturated, or even drowned, but we hold tight with our roots. We stand firm in Christ's soil.

Sharon Doerk