While photographing in Monument Valley, located on the Utah and Arizona state line, I came across this lone tree that caught my attention. This valley is known for its red-sand, beautiful buttes, and a very desert-like climate. Here rainfall is in the neighborhood of seven inches per year. Needless to say, a tree is something quite special.

While the buttes seriously caught my attention while exploring this area, it was this little tree that kept catching my eye and filling my thoughts. It’s definitely an illustration of not just being tough with what comes against you, it’s about having a root which will hold you and sustain you is some long dry times.

The Word of God speaks to “roots” in various ways. Interestingly, this “root” is often in the truth of God, i.e., his Word declaring life.
The writer of Proverbs comments, Proverbs 12.3,

A man will not be established by wickedness, But the root of the righteous will not be moved.

The psalmist doesn’t use the word root but the implication is clearly understood for one who lives out God’s life. Psalm 1.1-3,

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the instruction of the LORD, And in His instruction he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Rooted, probably something worth thinking about for my own life. This lone tree might be a good place to reflect and ask where my life is rooted.

If you find you’re lacking a root in God’s New Life in Jesus, then that root begins by your faith in Jesus. Check out John 3.16, it’s worth a read. Here you can begin to grow, stand firm, and be sustained even if the times become long and dry. Rooted, is this where you are today?