Root Bound

I had to run to the store for a few things yesterday and while I was there, I couldn’t help myself but to go into the garden center. I have a beautiful, molded cement flower planter on my front porch and it has been crying for flowers all winter. I finally heeded the call of the flower and poked my nose in the pansies. I love pansy flowers, they are one of my favorite winter blooms. I think I love everything about them. I love the dainty leaves all clustered together. I admire the large yet flowing petals that remind me of the wings of a butterfly. The purple and yellow, so bold and showy, always captivate my eye. When I saw the pansy blooms were being sold for under $2.00/six pack, as the smile crossed my face, I carefully inspected each cluster to see the condition of the buds, the petals, the leaves. Then I made my selection.

After my morning personal training clients I usually fiddle around the yard a bit with Andrew before greeting the remainder of my day. This morning was much the same, poking around my front yard, raking some leaves from the flower beds and pulling a few weeds. I then meandered with my shovel, my glove and blooms to the little pot that had been yearning for flowery friends. As I pressed in my shovel I was pleased to discover, the soil was good.  Plenty of air, moisture, nutrients creating the best environment for my flowers to grow.  It is so important to have good soil for a strong and healthy plant. As I loosened each individual cluster of flowers from the plastic container, I did what all gardeners do…loosen the roots. If you rub the root/soil portion of the flower before placing the plant in the dirt it will flourish and feel free to spread its roots and branch out. Growth will be cultivated and size will not be restricted, giving the little plant unlimited potential.  As I began this process, I quickly realized why my flowers were purchased for only a dollar plus a few cents. These flowers were root bound.

A root bound plant is a plant that is good, healthy strong, but has remained in a container too small for its size for too long. Therefore, the roots clump up all around the dirt in a tangled mess. This is very restrictive to the plant and hinders proper hydration. If it is bound for too long the roots become just that, too long, with no place to spread and grow. If a root bound plant in not put into a larger container or the fresh earth soon, it will die.

It may sound silly, but these little pansies and I were bonding in this moment. I felt happy to have purchased them and that, though only a plant, they do have life and I felt I was helping them to be free. I was saving them. How many other pansies on the shelf would be discarded and die because they were not purchased? What if they are not placed in a pot or the earth freeing them to grow, flourish, be all that they could be? (Yes, I was really thinking this. I have compassion for little flowers.)

How about yourself? Are you feeling root bound today? What is it in your life that you struggle with? Are you meeting resistance, confined to a container too small for all that God has placed before you? Ask the Lord today what will it take for you to fly? What is it that the Lord must untangle in your life so your roots of life would not be bound, but could stretch out and dig deeper into the earth to find valuable nutrient. Once found, the riches of His Goodness will nourish you just like that little flower, and you too can become bright and showy. You are a beautiful, but delicate ornament for the world to enjoy and admire. Just like a flower, you can be something that others can draw from and find a sense of peace and comfort from without ever having to be touched. All you will have to do is be yourself and God will bring to you those who need to draw that peace and comfort from you.

You are God’s beautiful flower, His lovely creation. There are no two flowers alike, and there is none other like you.  You are His precious piece, a priceless addition to His collection.

Take some time today to drink in His Heavenly Rays, soak up the dew of His precious Holy Spirit, drink deep of His word…

Bloom...

Grow...

…and become more than you ever could have known.

“Now the LORD is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom.” 2 Cor. 3:17

When all else fails, remember, just like the little flower, I see your beauty and want to massage the roots of your heart so you can blossom and grow to be all you were created to be. You ARE an amazing Garden.

~Nicole