Grab Life by the Roots.

Dogs pee on them, people cut them down, and hippies hug them. Yes, I am referring to trees. I can endlessly talk about how great trees are and how important they are to our society. I mean, come on, if we didn't have trees this world would be in big trouble. Maybe some trees can get us humans into trouble too, kinda like they do when they fall on top of houses, cars, people, etc. Anyway, I'm not here to talk about trees. I do feel that there are trees that grow in our hearts though. For example, I go to school so that one day I can be an accountant. This, to me, is much like a tree that I have planted in my life. I maintain this tree beautiful by doing homework, studying for hours, and showing up to class. This is one of the many trees in the forest of my life. All of the trees in my forest have started out as being beautiful, but sadly some have become rotten. There are times in our lives that we hold on to things that we really shouldn't hold to. Some of us hold on to mistakes of the past, bad habits, hate towards others, and many other negative things. I see these as the rotten trees in our forests.

Sometimes there are situations in our lives when we really need to get rid of a tree because of how rotten it is. I have personally struggled very hard with getting rid of these trees. Why? Like I said before, these trees start out as being beautiful trees. We have a hard time getting rid of them because we don't see them in their worst state. We think about how beautiful they were, and how much effort we put into its development. Most of these trees look pretty from the outside, but from the inside they are severely decayed. Rotten trees are detrimental to any forest. These are the trees I was telling you about, the ones that cause destruction by falling. Theses trees bring death, trouble, sadness, and all kinds of bad feelings. These bad situations can really affect your life. It can change your perspective on life, and not in a positive way. In the bible it says "For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree good fruit" (Luke 6:43). If we keep these rotten trees in our forests and make decisions in our lives, we can end up going on a path completely different than what God has planned for us.

This is why we need OUT with these trees. When we get rid of them we can't cut it down either, leaving a big tree trunk as a memory. We need to grab them by the roots and completely rid ourselves of the negativity this tree was bringing to our forest. It's hard to do this all by yourself though. You could tug at this tree for years, and think "Oh, forget it! It's impossible for me to get rid of this huge tree!" That statement is completely incorrect. In Philippians 4:13 it says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." If you hold on to Christ, he'll give you the strength you need. Not only to cut down the tree, but to maintain your forest beautiful. With him your forest will never stop blossoming. The fruit of your trees will be good.

Don't we all enjoy seeing a beautiful scenery? If we keep God first in our lives, we will be able to enjoy a beautiful scenery everyday. It may not be as easy as it seems to maintain all of your trees beautiful, but with God we can achieve it. Don't let those rotting trees ruin the plan God has for you. Walk in all the blessings the Lord has for you!

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him." -1 Corinthians 2:9.