ROOTED!

It’s nice to be home—the temporary and earthly version thereof, I mean. I got back to Texas safely and soundly, but not necessarily in one piece. My luggage decided to dilly and dally in the environs of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, determining to dawdle and detour before making its way to Dallas a depressing 15 hours after me.

But it’s nice to be home. Familiar surroundings. Roots. Driving on the right (the right!) side of the road. In my car. The recognizable twang of Southern Americanese. Within reach of friends and family. My books. JIF. Familiarity. Rooted.

Roots are easily laid. With time, the idiosyncrasies of life in the U.K. became as unsurprising and commonplace to me as those of existence in the U.S.A. We are, by human nature, wont to become rooted. It is in the character of mankind to develop connections, networks. Roots.

I had thought—wrongly, I realize—that as a single person I was not particularly rooted anywhere. It took a transcontinental transplantation and the agonies that ensued that established, poignantly and piercingly, the fact that for far too long, I had been rooted in one place.

Roots. Good things. But not necessarily the best things to develop. At least not as long as we are citizens of another place. One can be too rooted.

For our citizenship
is in heaven, from which also
we eagerly wait for a Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:20

And as citizens rooted in another realm, living under the reign of Another, expecting the imminent return of that regent, Christians are called to be conscious of that impending kingdom always—its principles, its priorities, its purposes. We are to be rooted in the realm to come.

But seek first His kingdom ….

Matthew 6:33

That is what our primary concern ought to be, the establishment and realization of that kingdom on this earth. And in working wholeheartedly to that end, believers are enjoined not to fret about the fortunes of daily living or be perturbed about its pains. We are not to be rooted to this temporal existence.

Do not worry then, saying,
“What will we eat?” or
“What will we drink?” or
“What will we wear for clothing?”
For the unconverted
eagerly seek all these things;
for your heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things.
But seek first His kingdom
and His righteousness,
and all these things
will be added to you

Matthew 6:31–33

As those who have placed their trust in Christ for salvation, as those who have thereby obtained eternal life, as those now in the family of God as His children, believers are, in a sense, already inhabitants of that kingdom. Uprooted from one kingdom, re-rooted in another.

For He rescued us
from the domain of darkness,
and transferred us to the
kingdom of His beloved Son.

Colossians 1:13–14

And so our focus must be where our citizenship is, where are roots are, where we are headed.

Therefore if you have been
raised up with Christ,
keep seeking the things above,
where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things above,
not on the things that are on earth.

Colossians 3:1–4

So I tell myself, as I return to my “roots”, this, too, is temporary. Soon to peter out, fade away, run its course.

This world is not my home,
I'm just passing through.
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me
From Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home
In this world anymore.
Albert E. Brumley, 1965