I love gardening. I enjoy tending to plants, watching them produce beautiful fruit or flowers. In doing so, I’ve learned about one unseen but extremely vital part of the plant—the roots. If a plant doesn’t have solid roots, it won’t produce fruit. The roots anchor it and provide it with the nutrients it needs to grow.
In life, it’s the same. We all need “roots” to thrive. Psalm 1:3 confirms this with the image of a tree. The psalmist says that a person who thrives is: “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-whatever they do prospers.”
This passage makes it clear: we thrive when we live a well-rooted life. And we can live a well-rooted life by understanding the power of three things: place, people, and purpose. The story of the first man God created—Adam—shows us how.
First, in Genesis 2:8, we find that being well-rooted requires a specific place. God gave Adam a place to live—the Garden of Eden. And He has given each of us one, too.
Second, God has given us all a people, and we usually find the people in the place. That’s what happened to Adam. Genesis 2:18 tells us that in Eden, God created a wife for Adam—Eve. God didn’t create any of us to do life alone. He desires we live life within the stability of community.
Third, God has a purpose for each of us, and that purpose is also closely tied to our place. In Genesis 2:15, God clarified Adam’s purpose when He told him to work the Garden of Eden and take care of it. God promises a great purpose for each of us, and if we’ll commit to it, we’ll build a well-rooted life that flourishes in season after season.
One of my favorite examples of building a well-rooted life comes from the 39th President of the United States, President Jimmy Carter.
After finishing his term in the White House, President Carter could have lived anywhere, speaking, writing, and making good money. But he understood the power of place, people, and purpose. He was well-rooted. So, he went back home. He and his wife of 75 years, Rosalynn, moved back into their old house in their hometown of Plains, Georgia. And to this day, they haven’t left. Why? It’s their place. Their people are there. And so is purpose.
For the past 40 years, the Carters have lived among and served the roughly 20,000 people of Sumter County, Georgia, almost half of whom live below the poverty level. President Carter has used his influence to form a team that has built 4,300 Habitat for Humanity homes in his area. Every Sunday, you’ll find the Carters at Maranatha Baptist Church, where they still teach Sunday school.
It’s well-rooted lives like these that will always thrive, bearing abundant fruit in every season!
