“I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvellous love.” (Ephesians 3:17, TLB)

Okay, let me just say up front I am not a gardener. I do, however, appreciate a beautiful garden but like chemistry, gardening is a science. Perhaps I have been intimidated by my “gardener” friends who have immaculate gardens that are always in bloom. Planted with care and precision, the flowers blossom and bloom like a well-conducted orchestra.

I suppose I hate to fail, so my gardening is restricted to containers and baskets. For the most part, I have had much success with this type of “gardening”.

That being said, a couple of weeks ago Tyler and I went to a local nursery and picked out two wonderfully full containers to put on either side of the garage door.

“It still needs something”, I said to Tyler.

“What about this?”, he pointed to those long spiky plants. “This will give it some height”.

“Perfect”, I said and we loaded up the truck.

When I got home I took the spiky plant out of its cell and plopped into one of the baskets. “Looks great, eh?”

“That won’t live”, Tyler said. “You need to bury the roots. The first rain storm is going to wash away that soil.”

“It’ll be fine”, I said and walked away from my basket.

In disgust, Tyler buried one of the spiky plants in the rich soil of the basket he was tending and left my basket as it was. I think he was trying to teach me something. ;)

Two weeks later, guess who’s spiky plant survived. Hint, not mine.

It’s the root system that supports the plant. The roots grow outward into the ground and support the rest of of the plant.

So here’s the thing. God has prepared a soil in which we can grow. That soil is His amazing and marvellous love. As we put our trust in God, our roots sink down deeper in that love and our lives begin to blossom in strength and beauty.

If you and I are grounded in the Word of God — if we are grounded in His love and our relationship with Him is at the base of our lives — we can get through any storm that blows our way.

May our roots grow down deep into the soil of God’s marvellous love!

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)