What's on Top Counts

Most of us have moments of fascination. We see something and take time to check it out. Over all my years I have moments where I turn my focus from what is my life to something new and different. We should never say that it’s the same thing different day. That’s a line for couch potatoes and people who are in a rut. It reminds me of a sign from years gone by on the Alaska highway that read, “Choose your rut carefully. You'll be in it for a long time.”
One of these excursions of the mind came a long time ago and every now and again it resurfaces. I am fascinated with Bonsai. You know, those little trees that the Japanese people are so good at. I guess it’s one of their hobbies that doesn’t take up much space. Space is always at a premium in Japan, so whatever is small, works for them. My daughter told me that on her trip to Japan she found the hotel rooms not much bigger then walk in closets. Now that’s small. Note - be thankful for your space.
Back to the Bonsai. If you know anything about these marvelous plants, they are continually being trimmed. They buy special cutters just for this delicate operation. And to the people engaged in caring for the trees, it is an operation. Some people sit and look at the tree for hours before clipping here or there. Some of these trees have been handed down through the family and each new “caretaker” is careful to take this responsibility very seriously. I have read about trees being 100's of years old and no bigger then 10" tall. Now that’s something. Just recently on one of those mental detours, I read that yews can live four to five thousand years. Now that’s long.
Personally I have never delved into learning how to grow and care for one of one these plants. Yet I will go out of my way to take time to look at them when any opportunity arises. I have even watched a man trim his once. The first time I watched him, I was horrified to see what he did. Over the length of an afternoon, we talked and he trimmed. A snip here, and another one twenty minutes later. When I thought we had talked of everything we could and, I presumed he was finished, he did something so startling, I could say nothing else but, “What are you doing!?” With a smile he said. “I finished the top now I’m doing the roots.” At the time I didn’t know this. To keep it small, you also have to trim the roots. Shaking all the dirt off those tinny roots, he then began to do the “important” trimming. So I sat in silence just watching the master gardener at work.
While doing so, a sermon illustration I once heard came to mind. Time has faded the memory but it went something like this, “The bigger the roots the bigger the tree, the smaller the roots, the smaller the plant. What’s unseen below the ground affects what’s seen above the ground.” We are like that you know. If our faith is not rooted well and only superficial, it shows in our life. If we are well grounded in Christ and reach to the deep things of God, what is visible in our lives will reflect it in how we live and have our being.
So I will let you go now so we can both open God’s word and go deeper.
Something to think about.
Rob