There is a maple tree next to my driveway. It’s beautiful in the Spring and Summer, providing ample shade for my vehicle. But in the Fall, I dare not park under it for the many dead or dying leaves that loose from the branches would pile up on my car. After clearing the dead leaves from my driveway recently, I noticed something about that Maple tree. All the leaves that had fallen came from the top 75% of the tree while the bottom 25% were still attached. Here goes God with another lesson! The leaves that remained on the tree were closer to the roots of the tree; those that had fallen were farther away from the roots. Are you getting the understanding? “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 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.” (John 15:4-5). The closer we are to the Root, the better off we’ll be.

But we also know, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Leaves come and go. There’s a purpose for green ones and for brown dead ones as well; first to replenish oxygen then to amend the soil. Our lives are like that too. There is a time to flourish but also a time to die. But unlike the leaf, when we are loosed from the Tree, we have another life to live. We may go through some storms here on earth but, “after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10). It’s much better to stay close to the Root of our salvation, the Creator of all things. If we are rooted and grounded with Christ, “the root of the righteous will never be moved.” (Proverbs 12:3). We’ll just be transplanted into Heavenly ground! Are you well rooted? You can be today.