Rooted

After years of living in the big city – bouncing around cramped rental houses and residing next to nosy neighbors – my wife and I finally found our dream home in the country. It was our own little piece of paradise, somewhere with plenty of room for our kids to grow. However, we soon learned there’s always work to be done around the farm. Much of the time, it involves vegetation: cutting grass, watering flowers, tending the garden, weeding, pruning bushes, removing dead trees, planting saplings… the list is endless. It didn't take long to realize that over half of the chores involved managing plants in one way or another. As new acreage owners, we had our work cut out for us.

TOOL TIME

It was time to tool up. The most pressing issues were dead trees and overgrown trails. Thus, I bought two essential machines that I quickly fell in love with. 

First, an old green tractor was the new workhorse of the farm. We named her Deidre. The big diesel engine, eighty horsepower, three-point hitch, and half a dozen interchangeable implements made my farm chores much more feasible. 

Second, “Daphne” was a brand new orange chainsaw. Her razor-sharp teeth spun blindingly around a 28” bar that ripped through wood in a hurry. She quickly reduced the gnarliest tree to tidy chunks of firewood in minutes. 

In addition to the tractor and chainsaw, an assortment of axes, shovels, gloves, cables, and ropes rounded out my arsenal. Armed and ready, I felt like the lord of my domain, all set to obey God’s command to subdue the earth and transform it into the garden of Eden. 

TWO SPRUCE

Two dead spruce trees in the yard needed to go. The first was thirty feet tall, once full of lush green foliage but now just a skeleton of brown branches and fading needles. The bitterly cold winters and hot dry summers had withered it to the ground. Time to make firewood. The axe made short work of the surface roots, then Diedre was moved into position. Cable around the bottom of the trunk, her strong hydraulic forks pulled the tree up and out of the ground. Then it was Daphne’s turn. Sawdust flew as the once stately tree was reduced to logs for the woodpile. All that was left was the shallow root wad lying lifeless on the grass – once its lateral roots were severed, there was little to hold it in the soil.

The second spruce was even easier, only fifteen feet tall. No chopping necessary – a cable around the base was enough for the tractor to lift it straight out of the ground. The wire mesh around the original dirt bulb was still visible. The roots had barely poked through into the surrounding soil. No wonder it died. 

ONE BUSH

With the dead trees in the yard removed – and my confidence soaring – my sights were set on the overgrown trails. Specifically, a network of bushes had grown on the edge of the swamp, leaving no room to pass along the path. One wild bush in particular – ten feet tall and fifteen feet wide – was a mass of tangled branches and leaves blocking that trail and entangling the barbed wire fence on the opposite side. 

It had to go. 

The massive root wad had grown up out of the ground, creating a mound of root wood and dirt. Dirt and chainsaws don’t mix – even a touch will dull the teeth – so Daphne had to sit this one out.

Thus, Diedre was summoned. Crawling through the branches, I managed to loop the cable around the bush’s thick stem, then I hopped on the tractor and fired up her growly diesel engine. Powerful hydraulics lifted the boom into the air, tightening the noose. Soon the cable was taught, with Diedre lifting for all she was worth. But the bush wouldn’t budge. I revved the engine and re-engaged the gears. Still nothing. I repositioned the cable, attaching it nearer the fulcrum, but the stubborn bush was resolutely anchored to the ground. Hacking at the roots with an axe accomplished nothing – they all went straight down! Sitting astride Diedre’s old yellow seat, I watched the hydraulic lines trembling with strain, threatening to burst. I managed to lift the mass of vegetation barely an inch upward, just enough to see that the extensive root network completely intertwined with the neighboring bushes, all of which were firmly embedded in the bank of the swamp. Despite the dry summers, the bushes had found a way to tap into the subterranean water table deep underground. No matter the weather, these hardy plants were well supplied with water and nutrients year-round, rendering the entire community virtually invincible. 

Defeated, I collected my tools and puttered home. The best I could do was trim some branches back from the fence.

TREES IN THE BIBLE

The imagery of a life-giving tree is prominent throughout the Bible. Right at the beginning, we see trees in Eden. In fact, they’re focus of the whole garden. 

Out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen 2:9)

When sin entered the world, man was forever banished from the garden, forbidden from accessing the tree of life.

In the first Psalm, we see how a godly man who trusts God is like a flourishing tree. 

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 law 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. (Ps 1:1-3)

Like those stubborn bushes by the swamp, a man who pursues the Lord is immovable.  Regardless of the trouble he experiences in life, he keeps bearing fruit faithfully.

Later in the Bible, Jesus teaches that he himself is the fulfillment of Psalm 1, while we are his branches. 

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. (Jn 15:5-6)

Life is sustained and fruit produced as long as we’re connected to the stem and roots. Conversely, separation from the vine leads to certain death. Like those withered spruce, dead branches are only good for firewood.

Jesus told a parable of seed failing to grow:

Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. (Mar 4:5-60)

Roots must run deep into the life-giving groundwater below in order to thrive. Indeed, on another occasion, Jesus cursed the barren fig tree, which soon “withered away to its root” (Mar 11:10). When I chopped the superficial roots of the dead spruce, it was easily removed. If a tree doesn’t bear fruit, it’s proof that the roots have failed. John the Baptist used the same imagery: 

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Mt 3:10)

Everything depends on the roots.

We should also note that our interconnection with other believers helps us remain in the Lord. 

Though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecc 4:12)

Not only were the bushes near the swamp tapped into the ground water deep in the earth, they were also tethered to one another. Together they were immovable. Similarly, the church – the collective body of believers – is far stronger than any one of us on our own.

Finally, at the very end of the Bible, we see the tree of life again, this time in heaven. 

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev 22:1-2)

Notice the location of the tree “on either side of the river”. It spanned its banks, constantly soaking up the water of life “flowing from the throne of God”. Fruit, the evidence of healthy roots, was constantly produced for the good of others. Indeed, its vibrant life led to the “healing of the nations”.

SUMMARY

If roots are tapped into a constant source of water, leaves can stay green no matter what happens on the surface. The two spruce trees on my acreage had shallow, ineffective roots and therefore couldn’t cope with the harsh climate. However, a network of bushes, each deeply rooted near the same swamp, was able to withstand the changing seasons and all manner of power tools. 

Take-home points:

• God is the source of life, and Jesus is our connection to him. (Jn 14:6, 1 Jn 5:11-13)

• Sin separates us from Christ and causes us to wither under the constant strain of living in this fallen world. (Is 59:2, Rom 6:23)

• Dead trees are easy to uproot. Their ultimate destination is the firepit. (Mt 25:41, Jn 15:6)

• The Devil (like a farmer with power tools) will do anything he can to destroy us. (Jn 10:10, 1 Pet 5:8)

• Jesus is the ultimate example of a man who was rooted in God (“planted by streams of water” Ps 1:3). When we live like him, we similarly root ourselves in the Lord. (1 Jn 2:6)

• Faith is a team sport. As we grow in the Lord together, our roots support each other through the troubles that inevitably come. (Gal 6:2, Heb 10:25)

• Fruit is a by-product of being connected to the Lord. It’s meant to bless others and seed the gospel elsewhere. (Gal 5:22-23, 2 Pet 1:8)

If we want to remain fully alive and able to withstand the various challenges of life, we must remain passionately connected to the Lord. No extreme weather (i.e. life circumstances) or well-equipped landlords (i.e. the Devil) will be able to move us. 

Those two spruce trees became firewood because Deirdre and Daphne were able to make short work of them. But the immovable bushes by the swamp are still thriving. Every year I have to cut back their wild branches and hack away new seedlings on the path. We should all aspire to be just as deeply rooted in Christ. 

© D. B. Ryen Incorporated, March 2026.

All Scripture quotations are from The English Standard Bible (ESV), Crossway, 2001.