Last year, I was clearing my potted plants outside my home. Many of the rotting plants were thrown away while the earthen pots were savaged for my father-in-law.
In the process of clearing the rotted plants, I faced the unenviable task of de-rooting the thorny plants with old blunt scissors. The soil were dried and hardened. The thorns were every where and waiting to trap me and poke me, which it did.
But herein, in the midst of this back breaking task, I learnt an important lessons.
At first, I tried to loosen and empty the soil. It helped a little, next I tried to cut off the roots attached to the stalk, but my blunt tools did not help. I ended up twisting and pulling and aching my poor back.
Seeing the strength of the rotted plant in resisting my pulls, it reminded me of the importance of the roots in holding down a plant - even for a rotted plant, it is not easy to dislodge and pull off. I wondered at first, about roots as my values, would I have good values to hold me down in a sea of changes and trying circumstances.
But seeing the tremendous effort needed to pull out the stem, it next reminded me of the darkness of sin in my life. If its allowed to grow, the roots will deepen and will be very hard to be removed. You are not dealing with only a stem's roots, but the other stems' in the same pot too, which have all become intermingled with one another to make it into a very stubborn root to remove.
To effectively remove the roots, you need: sharp tools, to remove the other roots too, a lot of determination and time. Maybe there's a parallel to life's dark roots. If left unattended, it'll sprout. To remove them, it needs a major surgery with tools, dealing thoroughly with all related sins, and help from others. Most of all, a committed purpose to deal root it all out.
Its an uphill battle, but thank God for His enabling.
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