Roots in the Dark (Slice)

"...On a guided ride through the massive sand dunes of Silver Lake, we stopped at the highest point of the dunes."

"...From the hill we could see Lake Michigan, a historic lighthouse, and the endless shifting dunes that slowly engulf the small forests around them. Most of his [the tour guide's] words were lost in the beauty of the scene itself, but I tuned in as he described the survival tactics of the trees beside us. “These trees,” he said, pointing to trees that were no more than 10 feet high, “are upwards of 35 feet tall.” They are trees assailed each year by shifting sands and changing hillsides. When their branches are enveloped by sand, leaves die from lack of sunlight, but the branches become roots...."

Think about it.

"...We live in a world of shifting ideas where the potential to resign ourselves to fear or hopelessness is real. The Christian story counters this imagination with a different one: The light of Christ is not overcome, no matter how dark the darkness. In Psalm 1 we are reminded that the one whose certainty is the Lord, whose hope is in God’s unchanging presence, is blessed. “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” In this changing culture of disheartening headlines and distracting information, many lead lives of quiet desperation. Still many others grow roots where life buries branches, tapping into the living waters of one who does not change."

--Jill Carattini