So a couple of weeks ago we had been talking about spiritual fruit and the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians. It was a really fun teaching series. We talked about how we are called to be a people that tend to our hears and bear good fruit. The next week we talked about being a community that bears good fruit, and how we are called to be an orchard.
I have been thinking about that more and more and thought about bearing fruit. Before we can bear fruit, we have to have a root system that will sustain that fruit that we are bearing. The roots absorb the nutrients and water and so with out them nourishment cannot come.
So I was thinking about the way the roots of a tree have such a profound impact on the way that the fruit comes out. Like the carnation experiment where you put it in different colored water and it becomes different colored (not a perfect correlation but work with me). I began thinking about the people in my life that I would consider people who make up my faith roots; my parents, my youth pastor in high school, some Sunday school teachers and some authors like CS Lewis… They all have had a hand in tending to my spiritual roots and therefore have made a difference in the kind of fruit that I bear.
As we work with students we have to realize that we are doing a ton of root work. More than planting seeds we are tending to the spiritual roots of our students. We might not see the fruit that comes from it, but our thumbprints will be on the fruit that is born over time.
In what ways have others tended to your roots?
How can you be mindful and faithful in tending to the roots of your students and their families?
