My 2023 Word of the Year

ROOT3D....Yes that was a typo, sort of, originally. When I first typed out that word in the notes on my phone I accidentally hit the 3 instead of the E but as I was about to fix it something inside me said to wait and to think about what the number 3 means in the context of the Bible. So I started thinking about it and the first thing that popped into my

head was Ecclesiastes 4:12 which says, "Though one may be overowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." It immediately reminded me of this cross we have hanging above our fireplace from our vow renewal where we braided the 3 cords together to symbolize God in the middle of our marriage. That symbolism of the number 3 would've been good enough but there's so much more!

Of course the Cross is a huge reminder of the significance of this number, not only were there 3 crosses on that hill but there were 3 nails used on that cross and most significant is after 3 days in the tomb he arose!! Last but probably the most significant is the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

So this is why I decided to leave my typo in my word of the year, maybe it was just a happy little accident, as Bob Ross used to say, but it was a reminder for me of so many wonderful things.

Now...let's get on to the real point of this blog post, my word of the year!!

I've been praying about what my word of the year should be for a while, if you have never chosen a word of the year it is just a word that you want to be the focus of your year. Well all this praying and I was getting nothing, I was starting to get a little frustrated. Then on our way home from a trip to Arkansas we took for New Year's we decided to take a bit of a scenic route home and as I'm looking around at all the scenery I look at the trees and I find my mind drifting to how amazing it is that these trees are standing there, most of them probably several decades old, having weathered lots of storms, yet they're still standing. My mind then went to the reason behind why they're standing, their root system! They are still standing there through all of the storms because their roots must be really deep and wide. I thought that was a really cool concept and then my thoughts drifted to something else.

A week or so passes and my mind keeps going back to this root system concept. Then it hit me, this was God speaking directly to me, he told me in that moment in the car what my word of the year needed to be and I totally missed it! ROOTED!! I felt him telling me that this year I am to grow my roots down deeper into him. Colossians 2:7 says "Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness" so now I knew what my word of the year was to be but God doesn't just speak things halfway. Even though I was good with the information I had he kept pouring more into me about roots and what the significance of roots are.

Roots in the literal sense are vital to the health of any plant but looking specifically at trees and their impressive root system it's easy to see just how important they are. From the outside a tree that is full and healthy is beautiful but if we could look underground we would be astonished at the beauty in the root system. These roots not only are holding this tree firmly in place but it is also the source of life, pulling water and nutrients from the soil up into the tree, so it is continually growing.

This is what I want my relationship with Jesus to look like. I want my roots to grow deep into him so I can soak up all the nutrients to help me continually grow in my faith.

What is so amazing about a trees roots is the more established the roots are the better it can weather a storm! Let that sink in a minute!!

Have you ever seen a tree knocked over in high winds? This is almost always because either the roots are not yet well established or they are dying.

You see when we don't spend daily time with God our roots begin to die little by little, so then when lifes storms come our way, we don't weather them very well and we get knocked down. I found that happening in my own life last year. I don't want that happening any more so this year I'm going to be intentional to grow my roots down deep.

When your roots are strong they are nearly indestructible! As I was chewing on this idea I looked up some pictures and what I found was even more of an image of what our roots in Jesus should look like. These pictures below show trees with exposed roots where the ground has eroded away by either time or storms, but these trees are still standing and still look strong! This is what happens when you establish your roots deep in Jesus. Walking with the Lord doesn't mean storms won't come your way, it means that when they do you'll be able to weather them and stay standing because HE is the one holding you up! You may be able to see the erosion in your life, in the form of brokenness, but because you are rooted in Him you will remain standing!

Another interesting thing about roots is their ability to grow literally anywhere. Take a look at these pictures below that I found! By all accounts we would think that concrete or asphalt or natural stone would keep these roots from growing, that maybe the roots would just stop because of the obstacle in their way, but that's not what happens. The roots persist, they keep growing and they literally bust through or devour their obstacles! The deeper we grow our roots in Christ the more obstacles we will be able to push through, because with Christ we can do ALL things!!

The reason a tree comes back to life every spring is because they have healthy roots. Every fall and winter these trees appear dead on the outside, we all go through seasons like this, where from the outside we don't look as alive as maybe we did the year before, maybe we deal with depression and anxiety, maybe it's a hard financial season, a loss of a loved one, a broken heart, any number of things can put you in a "dead" season. But if your roots are deep in Christ then you have the hope that a new season is around the corner and what once looked dead will spring back to life and will not only be beautiful but there will be noticeable growth. We have a tree in our front yard that was fairly small when we moved here almost 9 years ago and because I see it everyday it doesn't really seem like it's grown but I can look back at pictures and see the immense growth it has experienced over the years. Sometimes it is easy to look at yourself in the mirror and see the same person you saw many years ago, growth is not always so apparent. But I promise if you are rooted in Him and you take some time to reflect on the person you used to be you will find that you are not that person anymore and you will see all the beautiful growth God has worked in you!

I challenge you all to become more deeply ROOT3D in HIM this year!!!

If you would like to see how I created my journaling page shown at the top of my blog post you can click the link below.

Link to my Journaling Process Video: https://youtu.be/ZVSnjiV63xA

If you would like to grab the printable I made and journal a page of your own you can download it by clicking the link below.

Link to my Journaling Printable:

Rooted.pdf

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