Digging for dirt

Daily Prompt: Roots

It’s easy to find dirt and rocks. They are everywhere. When it comes to life, not so easy to see. We have all heard how someone will “find the dirt” on an opponent in a political race. Having survived this last year, I have seen plenty of mud tossed around. If you dig deep enough we all have dirt. Dirt— Earth. Where we live. The stuff of life. But in that dirt are roots and rocks.

A tree sends its roots deep into the dirt to find water. Its main root is the taproot. It is taller than the tree is high topside. But often the taproot finds obstacles in its path. large boulders.  The root goes around the boulder and while it does, it sends out thousands of hair-like tendrils that wrap around the rock. The thing that was once an obstacle becomes an anchor that allows the tree to withstand gale force winds.

In life, we often think the boulders that hinder us are terrible and we often cry about things that seem like rocks in our path.

We all have rocks in our past, things that hurt us, hindered our way. Wounds that transformed our identity. We also have dirt —actions or reactions that cause us to feel shame or blame. Rocks and dirt. Things we encounter and how we react.  We can react to that boulder and stop sending our taproot deep to find faith. But if we do, the winds of life will easily topple us.

Spiritually, people have learned to embrace the rocks and cover them with grace. Give yourself grace. When we do that, we find that our roots will cover the boulders that can anchor us in faith. The rocks are still there, along with the actions and reactions to those rocks of our past, but now they are anchors that make us stronger. We can move on. If someone tries to find the dirt of my past, I also share the story of the rocks and my roots. I am rooted and grounded in faith. That becomes a testimony of the grace of God. If my story only stays my story, it ends in me. But when I let my story become His story, it points to God.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/roots/