Root Bound

Yesterday my husband and I engaged in a much over due work project.  We transplanted 2 very large climbing vines and a climbing rose bush which each occupy a corner of our pergola.  We planted these years ago when we completed our patio renovation project.  Because they are potted they do what potted plants eventually do~ they outgrow their pots.  They become root bound and unhealthy and then they begin to die.  Our plants had grown to the point that they were now winding thru the top of the pergola as planned, but they were clearly struggling.  I noticed this last year and I knew that we needed to repot them into bigger containers~ I just balked at the thought of it.  It was going to be a lot of work and expense.  And so I dragged my feet and ignored the difficult task at hand for a whole other season.  It cost me one of the vines.  By this spring, one of the jasmines was dead. So finally yesterday we did what we should have done a long time ago.  We tore into the too small pots and began to extract the vines amd the rose bush.  It was an ugly process.  They were severely root bound.  Once we managed to extract them ( breaking a few of the pots in the process), I began to take a shovel and beat the root ball in order to loosen and decompact the roots.  I had the thought as I was doing this that it might be painful for the plants.  But it needed to be done before we repotted them, so that the roots would have room to spread out and breathe.  The final step involved planting the new climbing rose bush I had purchased to replace the dead vine. We now have 2 jasmine vines and 2 Lady Banks climbing roses at the 4 corners of our pergola.  And for now- they are in pots which better suit their current size and can accommodate for more growth. Our lives are like my vines.  Often times we become root bound without even realizing it.  Though we may be cramped and uncomfortable, we cling to our familiar pot.  We realize how hard it will be, and how much effort it will take to be transplanted into a different sort of pot and so we resist being moved.  The problem is ~ if we resist too much, or too long, we begin to die and we may not even be aware of it. God is a better Gardner than I am.  It makes sense. He is the original garden designer, is He not?  He created a garden for his first children to live in.  Not a castle, not a fortress, not a Taj Mahal ~ but a garden.  And because He is a wonderful Gardner He never waits too long before He transplants us into new pots so that we will continue to grow and not die.  The Christian journey is not about being comfortable.  It is not about resting or remaining in a happy, comfortable pot.  It is about continual growth and transformation.  Thus, God breaks our old familiar pots, tears into our root bound souls, and transplants us into bigger containers where we can continue to grow.  And if He is successful with us, the process repeats itself over and over.  Much to the chagrin of the plant at times.... I, like my vines, am being repotted right now. And I don't like it one darn bit!   I like the pot I'm in, damn it!  I don't want to move.  And yet there is a sense in which if I do not yield to the Gardner and His will for my life I will die just like my unfortunate vine.  As I said ~ God is a much better Gardner than I am.  Though I despise this process of tearing apart my roots because it is painful and messy, God has looked at my life and determined that I need a bigger pot to grow in.  And so He has gone to work transplanting me.  I didn't have to give up my lovely, comfortable pot. The decision to allow God to move me was always mine.  I could cling to the familiar and resist the changes God is seeking to bring into my life.  Or I can trust Him that it is time to disturb my roots, tear them apart, and repot me into a container of His choosing.  It's not an easy choice.  But ultimately, for me~ there is only one. Shalom!