Trees and Humans

On our 52nd Anniversary Joel and I went on a little jaunt to our favorite area by the lake not too many miles from our micro-city.  In a normal world, we would have probably gone to our favorite little coffee shop where Joel would sip a specialized coffee while I enjoyed a 100% fruit smoothie.  If we were really rebellious we would buy one of their large cinnamon rolls to split.  That was before coronavirus.  Our world has changed in so many ways, so on the morning of our anniversary we took our own drinks from home and headed west.

As we sat by the lake watching both humans and nature out on the water, I noticed a large tree in our vision. I love trees in every season.  There is nothing more beautiful than a tree dressed in it's finest during the summer months.  And then when fall brings my favorite colors?  Amazing.  And there is also a sense of pure beauty when a leafless tree continues to spread its arms into the gray winter sky.  The contrast of light and dark holds it's own gift.  And so does a tree in Spring when it begins again to release new life.  Trees are one of God's greatest creations.

This tree, on this morning brought to mind how important it is for all of us to have deep roots of faith to walk through all the seasons of our lives.  Those roots help us grow strong, stand firm, and become all God has for us to be, just like this tree.

Yes, there is so much to learn from trees. Planted in good soil they grow strong, they live long.  They flourish.  They serve a purpose. The earth would not survive very long without them!  I'm thinking God knew what he was doing when He created such a wide and beautiful variety of trees.

In some ways we can be compared to trees.  We, too, need to be nourished in order to flourish...... through God's Word, through prayer, in worship and praise, by the wisdom and teachings of others, staying close to God.  Feeding our souls certainly gives us strong roots and those strong roots enable us to open our hearts to others giving us purpose.  You know, maybe God knew what He was doing when He created humans too!

 I am so thankful for trees.........and most of the time I am thankful for humans too. (ha-ha) At this time, in this season it is good to remember that not only are the trees God created meant to give Him glory. but so are we.

"Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

1 Corinthians 10:31

Roots Defined Differently

The topic of roots is always swirling around in my mind, as we have so often wrestled with it. Not wrestled like two sweaty bodies crawling around on a mat until one pins another,  but more like the pull and tug needed to make taffy.   Recently again, God brought it to the forefront ~ the roots and our desire to find those roots in a home. Home like house, land, community, city.  But I have learned that roots and home are not necessarily defined to include staying in one place.

Christie Purifoy has written a beautiful book titled, "Roots and Sky" that chronicles their first year in a new home, as they made the intentional effort to put down roots.  Today she posted a story written by Bekah DiFelice, who as the military spouse of a Marine, is "on the move" often.  Bekah has journaled her days and written a book about growing roots while being transient. ("Almost There:  Searching For Home While On The Move") She writes, "I have often wondered what it takes for them (roots) to wind through the ground beneath me and make me feel settled, at home."  She describes their family as "movable gardens and transplanted roots, asking what and where home is now and what else it could be."  Bekah writes that she has taken comfort in Christie Purifoy's statement that defines homecoming as a process rather than a moment.

I grew up on the move, living in 7 towns and 5 states before finishing first grade. When I was 7 my father died.  There were a couple more moves before settling in the town where I graduated from high school.  Joel grew up on the family farm, seldom leaving the community until he headed off to Bible College at age 20.   Soon after we were married Joel joined the Air Force and we spent 8 years moving around with the military before getting out so he could attend the seminary.  As a pastor and family we moved several times too.  Moving is familiar to us.  After 21 years in our current micro-tropolis, staying in one place has become more familiar.  Not necessarily always comfortable, but familiar.

So the roots thing.  It just keeps coming up, and as it does I am finding the process fascinating.  It is a revelation to discover that how we define roots is as simple or as complicated as the lives of each individual.

I have a blogger friend who, like me, battled Lyme and still lives with the damage it did in her body. She and her hubby just finished moving to another state....this their 36th move!  She, too, has longed for a home with roots, and in a recent post Lisa shared her understanding that Jesus is the door home, no matter where she lives.  She does love her new house and yard, but she knows Jesus is the door to her permanent Home.  A comforting thought.

There is that saying.............."Home is where the heart is".  And maybe that is all there is to it.  Still, those roots seem to beckon.  So, can you have roots and travel?  Just like the old, really old TV show said, "Have guns, will travel"......can you "have roots, will travel?"

We have observed dear friends as they begin their journey to a life of travel, bringing their home with them.  Not a home with a foundation going deep into the ground, nor the city they have lived in for nearly 3 decades, but yet a solid foundation with roots.  Roots on wheels.

When we were in the military we felt we had roots.  We have pondered this and decided it was because the military was our "home" no matter where we were stationed.  As a Pastor and family, when we moved on we  felt uprooted.  We left behind a piece of our heart and took with us our memories as we said yes to a new calling.

So I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe we have roots that go all the way to the Philippines, where we experienced a season of our lives that we hold close.  Maybe we have roots all the way into Montana, and certainly in Minnesota.  Our roots may not go vertically deep into one place, but more horizontally.  Roots defined differently.

We know so many pastors who moved so much in their ministry.  As retired or older seniors they have moved to new places to be close to some of their family.  Roots coming from the heart.  We know other people who have never left the town they grew up in or in later years returned to the place they spent their childhood.  Another kind of roots as the past calls.  All Roots defined differently but roots never-the-less.

This post probably means more to me than to anyone else, but as I hear what God has placed before me this week on the topic of home and roots, my understanding has deepened, broadened.  A peace has settled over me as more pieces of this puzzle have fallen into place.  I love how God opens our eyes and deepens our understanding out of His love for us.  He is good that way.

Where are your roots?  How do you define home?  How do you define roots?  Wishing you roots and sky, and not only a home to call your own, but a Home where Jesus welcomes you!

Roots, Screen Doors, And A Calling

It is quite awhile ago now that a sweet friend shared with me their desire to buy a large, older home near where their children went to a charter school.   Prayer was requested on whether this was God's plan or not.  As I prayed, I saw screen doors!  Old fashioned screen doors.  It was an odd thing to see, but I shared it with my friend, asking her if there were any screen doors in the house.  She told me there were 5 doors!  Five doors.  I could almost hear them slam as I visualized her kids running in and out in the summertime.  After much prayer and confirmation on their part, K. and her husband stepped out in faith and bought the large, in need of repair, stately home with so many doors.  I dream of visiting them some day, standing in their place of nesting to see how they have made it theirs, and see all God is doing as they continue on their family journey in a home with 5 doors.

Maplehurst

At the time, I was reading Christie Purifoy's book, "Roots and Sky:  A Journey Home In Four Seasons"  The book tells the story of Christie and her family as they move back to PA and purchase a large, older home in need of repairs, with stately trees and gardens to tend.  Maplehurst is the place where they found beauty, are creating beauty, and in the process are putting down roots.  It was not lost on me that my friend is doing the same thing.  Nor was it lost on me that Joel and I, after then 48 years of marriage were still seeking roots in a land we could call our own.  We were in the taffy-pull place of processing my journey with breast cancer and not moving to AZ.  God is very good at weaving things together for us, if we are listening.

"We did not put down roots in a place, but in a calling."

Renee 

I have shared before that wherever Joel was serving was where we called home.  In the military we called, Illinois, New Mexico, Utah, Minnesota, and the Philippine Islands home.  In the ministry we called St. Paul, MN, Malta MT, Medicine Lake MT, Zimmerman MN, Donnelly MN, Mason City IA, New Hampton IA, and again, Mason City IA home.  In our early years, our community was centered on the military base where we were located.  As a minister and family, our community has always been centered around the church Joel served.  We did not put down roots in a place, but in a calling.

Our oldest son told me the other day that when someone asks where he is from, he tells them..."Well, I moved 13 times......"  Nine of those were with us.  Where he graduated from H.S. is where the home town is, I expect.  I believe all the moving gave our kids an expanded world view, but it also made for few opportunities to plant deep roots.  The older four, who did the most moving with us, have all as adults put down roots now on land they call their own, in cities they call home, and in community and church living. Their children are experiencing a life so different than theirs.  One of our son-in-law's once said to our daughter...."Why is it when your parents hear about a new place they wonder what it would be like to live there.....instead of just visit?"  Good question.

Each of you have stories to share about your own homes, cities, communities.  You have either embraced the gypsy lifestyle as part of you, or planted deep roots in a place you have called home for years or even generations.  Life is an adventure for everyone, written by us and by God.

Talking with my friend K. last week brought the roots theme into the light again.  We do recognize a few roots we have here, in a place we did not think would hold 21 years of our lives.  Mostly they are planted in people, churches, and in our neighborhood.  We love our association, and are grateful for good neighbors, great walking paths, and green spaces.

Our future may not hold a large house with 5 screen doors, in fact I can almost guarantee that, putting aside any surprises Papa God throws our way.  It may not hold the deep roots of those who spend a lifetime in one place, but we have come to the conclusion that our roots are deep in Papa God. And some day He will reveal to us the land, the city, the place where we are called to dig deep.  It may require travel and it may not.  And that place we long for?  If is it not here on earth, then it will be in our Heavenly home where our spiritual roots are strong, anchored in our Father's love.  I wonder if there are any screen doors or rose gardens in Heaven?

Walking The Land

There is something about the West that has always drawn me.  It is not just because my husband wears cowboy boots, vests, denim shirts, and a great Stetson hat.  No, it is much more.  I love the way the land presents itself.....both barren and beautiful at the same time.  We have lived out west in Utah, New Mexico and Montana and I lived as a child in South Dakota so we are familiar with western landscapes. Each place had it's own beauty to offer.  After returning from Montana to the Minnesota in 1983 we mourned the loss of living in the West for a long time.  It was not just the people, even though they were great.  It was not just the mountains and their majestic beauty, since we did not live near the Rockies.  It was the land.  The history embedded in the land. The pioneer spirit is there ~~independent, rugged, persevering.  We have only been back to visit Montana one time, mostly due to my past health issues, but memories are held close to our hearts.

I am attracted to places like The Pioneer Woman's BLOG, not for the recipes, but for her stories and photos of their life in Oklahoma.  I find it all intriguing.  Wide open spaces, hard work, and a satisfied life.  At least that is how I see it.  Joel and I both like the West.  If we believed in reincarnation, we would be thinking we were once pioneers out west, but since we do not, I think that maybe the beauty of the West, the history the land holds, and our good memories are what pull us in.  I expect it is one of the reasons we liked Gold Canyon AZ so much.  It certainly would not be due to it being near Phoenix.  Gold Canyon sits on the edge, nestled between the Superstition Mountains and the suburbs of that over populated desert city.  There is a rugged beauty to be found there in the green desert.

The land out West draws us.  There are also other places the land calls to us,  but in different ways.  Joel's childhood home and land is familiar and holds history.  In fact we will be buried in the cemetery next to the church where he grew up.  Just a quarter mile from the home farm seventeen Dahlens are buried, so far.  The lakes, rolling hills, and farm fields  where Joel spent his whole childhood bring forth an emotional response.  We are also drawn to the land and front porch of one of our families.  A porch that gives us a view of the flat fields and roads for miles, bringing us a sense of peace and quiet.  Far from town, it holds generations of history that you can sense deep in your soul.  I am grateful that our three treasures there will have that history for themselves and can look back at who walked the land before them.

In our years of moving, the 22 plus moves we have experienced around the country and overseas to the Philippines, our children missed out on putting down any deep roots, and so did we.  But as adults they have each found a place for themselves.....a land where they left footprints that brings them peace and a sense of "here is where we belong".  After a few years of "wandering" they walked the land God gave them and put down roots. They are living out God's purpose for their lives on their own soil and we are so grateful for that.

Do you feel drawn to your own land, a land you have walked on where you held the soil in your hands? Many have done so.  One blogger friend shares amazing photographs of the beauty surrounding her from their home in rural Wisconsin.  Another shares the stunning view she has from her home of a proud towering mountain in Washington state.  Another speaks of their home in the mountains of California. Yet another, city life, vibrant and alive to her.  Each place is as unique as the people who share their stories.  Each one says...."we have come home"......

I cannot express fully the connections between the land, God, and our own need for roots, but as I read Christie Purifoy's book, "Roots and Sky" and as I have read the comments on her blog, this need for roots in a land God has provided resonates with so many people.  This is beyond the desire for roots in the eternal.  It is the need to be able to "walk the land" and know that you know that you know where you belong here on earth.  I believe that sometimes we choose the land and sometimes the land chooses us.

Do you know what my hope and prayer is for each of you, for all of us who desire to walk the land?
That we have found or will find our own place to walk during our journey on earth, where we have dug deep into the soil, put down roots and feel at rest.  A place where our dreams and God's purpose for our life have united together to create the peace and quiet our souls longed for.  A place where we realize "we have come home".