Trees

A few of a tree's most basic needs are sunlight, water, and rich soil. Many hardy trees only need limited amounts of these needs - they can go for weeks without water, and the soil they grow in can be as useless as the Georgia red clay. But the one thing I believe all trees have to have to survive is their roots. These underground limbs are what gathers the nutrients and feeds them to the tree. If a tree is cut down or uprooted, it dies.
As a college student, I have experienced the phenomena of being "uprooted". I now have two homes: the place where I grew up in, and the place where I am going to school for the time being. For the last year I have frequently been going back and forth between these two places. Since I am in one place half the year and another place the other half, I sometimes feel like I can never be grounded or fully engaged in either one. Both have my heart, so I cannot wholly give it away to one or the other.
Not only college students experience this, but also kids that are tossed back and forth between broken homes. Orphans, the homeless, those in military service - they all may not know which place to call "home". To a certain degree we all experience this uprootedness. The ease of transportation has not only created a small world, but it allows us to get away from places we don't like. We can start over, we can be sent away, we can be uprooted.
All Christians will deal with this feeling all of their lives, for "our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ". We do not and will not ever truly belong in this world, but rather in the one to come. How then shall we live in a place which is not our home?
If a tree is constantly being uprooted and transplanted, how will it ever grow? How will it ever reach it's full growth and potential?
The answer lies in where we place our roots.
This past year at college, our verse of the year was Isaiah 61:3 - "They will be called great trees of righteousness, planted by the Lord for His glory." I never really thought deeply about this verse until now. The Lord will raise us up from the ashes to be great trees of righteousness, and it will all be for His glory! If He is the one that plants us, then He will place us where He wants us for His glory to be spread!
Psalm 1:1-3 says, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the instruction of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers."
Trees that are planted next to streams of water will doubtless be the most healthy, for when the drought comes they will still have water for renewed strength. If we place our delight and our trust in the Lord, and obey His law, we will find that we can bear fruit anywhere, and we will not wither under the harshest weather!
Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. If we abide in His word and who He is, we can find joy in achieving our ultimate fulfillment no matter where we are placed physically.