Nuts and roots

From where I sat this morning, I could easily watch the sneaky little squirrel that was approaching my patio on the hunt for nuts. He ran up and down the leafless tree in my backyard to proudly display each find to his friend. The two of them engaged in a lively bit of chatter and then they were off again to collect more of the precious booty for a long winter ahead. This scene played out numerous times as I sat there with a front row seat. I was writing my own dialogue in my mind to the kinds of things the two of them might have been saying in each exchange. " how is the collecting going on your side of the yard?", " did you check out that pile of leaves over there ?" Get all you can while the getting is good , I heard the folks mention a clean up day and then it will all be gone." " I don't think I will go hungry this winter, but I wonder if the others know about this place?" " We must tell them right away, so they can stock up for the lean times!"

Maybe it was just wishful thinking to imagine a troop of squirrels ridding my yard of the nuicance nuts that needed to be raked up before first snow. They always seem to get trampled into the grass and buried halfway, only to be found next spring under a tender bare foot. The food of squirrels comes from the very subtle release of seed from the tree. The season for lucious fruit is past, the remnant left for only the wild to devour. The cycle begins again, roots have time in winter to go deeper, not compelled by sun and warmth and rains to work and produce foliage.

Now is the season to be rooted! We act like squirrels this time of year, don't we? We run around busily stashing our treasures away for " The holidays". We converse about bargains, recipes, and family plans to get together. We engage in the chatter of ritual comfort. But do we allow the spiritual season of growth and life an entrance to the underground work of root restoration? We have stored up scriptural training, we have sat with good council, we have understood and offered our fruits to one another, but have we taken time to lay axe to old roots and heal. During this close the windows- prepare for the winter - settle in time of year, take time to search out your heart before God. Rake over the hard areas and expose the rough patches. Throw away the dead branches, and while all may soon seem still, let your heart be rooted deeply in the Truth.

I want to encourage you to keep a personal journal of the winter season , the quiet and unnoticed journey the next few months will take you through. Sometimes we can't see fruit in areas we have given much attention to. It is at these times we need to remind ourseves daily of the microsopic developements that are taking place within us as we wait and watch. We will bear much fruit! John 15