Every morning my children and I get together with some other home schooled kids and go for a run. It’s been getting us in shape and it’s an invigorating way to start the day. The other morning while running uphill, my daughter pointed out this beautiful root system exposed on a bank above us. I didn’t have my camera with me at the time (believe me, I have enough weight to carry up those hills without adding an extra 20 pounds for my gear bag) so we returned this morning for the photo.
Thought for the Day
As the kids and I were walking and talking together on the way, I was thinking about family. The roots we plant in our children’s lives are what keep them grounded and firmly planted in a solid foundation. Without that groundwork beneath them, they feel insecure and uncertain. I believe strongly in teaching my children morals and guidelines for life - I think of each lesson like a root that starts out tiny, but grows and develops into their very character. It becomes strong and it helps to stabilize them when the winds of life get strong and stormy. As family, we are a bit like a forest. Our roots grow and intertwine as we seek out the Living Water. We become stronger together as we become more firmly rooted in the earth. Many trees together can withstand a windstorm much stronger than a single tree alone.
I started to create some images of the roots and while I was climbing the bank, I startled a little bird from its hiding place on the ground. It flew across my path and landed on a tree branch nearby prancing from branch to branch in beautiful freedom. It was not afraid of me, though it kept up a steady stream of enthusiastic conversation just long enough for me to create a few photographs before it flew off to its next destination.
As the kids and I started back to the car, running down the hill together with arms outstretched like airplanes, singing at the top of our lungs, I realized that it was no accident that the bird came across my path this morning. The wings we give our children are just as important as the roots we grow in their lives. It gives them the freedom to experience the beauties and joys, sorrows and losses, excitement and disappointments of life - to learn their own lessons and expand their own horizons. Although I’d like to protect them forever, I have also been given the joy of watching them spread their wings and fly.
And when they need to return, they always know that their roots are firmly planted and our
connections are deeply rooted. There is always a safe place to land.
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