Roots before Branches

I will be the first to admit that I love music... most music, there are a few exceptions, but that is not the point. While watching (and it slightly embarrasses me to say this) Glee this week, I came to the last episode of season three... one of the main characters, Rachel Barry, has graduated and is off to New York. It is not an altogether happy send off, and as she is boarding the train she is singing (in classic musical fashion). The song she sang struck a chord with me, as a lot of songs have... but the name of the song was Roots before Branches.
As I listened to the song, I could not help but think that is the main drive for us as humans. We put down roots so that we will grow, mature and flurish.
When I was younger and still living at home, my mom began a box garden. The boxes were built and filled with dirt and soil to help the plants flourish. Then my mom and I set out to plant some different types of flowers, herbs and other things... as I worked, I learned that ou can't just skim the surface of the dirt and put the flower there, you have to dig and put the roots underground so that they will flourish.
We can't just expect to mature and grow overnight without aiding that growth with knowledge, wisdom, understanding, empathy... things that are vital to sustaining our "roots".
When I was in college, I neglected my spiritual life... I did what I wanted, dated who I wanted and I began to yeild rotted fruit. I had a good front, but it was fake and mostly transparent. I transferred schools and started to get back to who I wanted to be, but still had weak roots. It wasn't until I moved to Nashville that I started to get things back in order. I started to attend a church where I was learning each week and starting to grow and mature. Each step I took toward God, strengthened the roots. I still have room for improvement, but who doesn't?
In light of Hurricane Sandy, and the various other storms that this country has faced in the last few years (Katrina, etc.)... it blows my mind when they show footage of the devistation and in the midst there is a tree that refused to fall... it makes me long for roots that are that deep and strong. If we have accepted Christ into our lives, we can have that... but maturity takes time. We need to read our Bibles, pray, seek God's will for our lives and fellowship with other Christians to mature and nurture the roots.
If we root our lives in the Word, we will be strong because God strengthens us... nothing will be impossible for us... and that is encouraging. In a country where Christians are becoming a minority, we have our work cut out for us... if we are rooted in the Word, we have hope.
Be encouraged today, stay rooted in God, and have faith... The Psalmist said it best in the first chapter of Psalms: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers!
Develop your roots and the branches will begin to grow as you mature and strengthen your relationship with the One True God.