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Root Of Bitterness

I took the dead looking browned seedling out of its pot. “It’s a shame that I couldn’t save the poor thing,” I thought . I’ll toss the soil back into the garden. As I lifted the 4 inch seedling I noticed something spiraled around in the pot.

I tugged on what looked like a rope. Unraveling it I discovered it was the root. “My, my”, I thought as I stretched it out. “Look at this thing,” I exclaimed to my husband! “Come measure it,” I continued. Inside the 3 inch pot attached to a 4inch seedling was four and a half feet of root. “ This doesn’t even seem possible,” I exclaimed incredulously.

Immediately I recalled the scripture to not let a root of bitterness spring up in your heart. The root filled the pot. In no way could it get the nutrients it needed to sustain a green plant. No matter how much water I gave it the plant was destined to die scrunched up in the pot with its root choking it.

Isn’t this like life I thought? Do I have any root of bitterness in my heart. Wrapped like a vise on my thoughts and emotions, not free to be who I’m destined to be. Is there a root? Oh God if I am bound by even the tiniest resentment, forgive me and cleanse me. Please be the gardener of my life, mind and heart.

That root was only visible after I took the plant from the pot. I only saw that I had a seedling that wouldn’t stay green even with water. Maybe those dry places in my life are touched with some bitterness. “Thou knowest Lord the secrets of my heart..” Search and cleanse me I pray so that I might receive the nutrients I need for a fruitful life.
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