This spring, my first-grade daughter adopted an apple tree and, because of the small yard at our home, she decided to plant it at church.
As we learned about parenting her new tree, we heard all about the soil, water, sun, and care that would help the tree flourish. However, much to her dismay, she learned it will take until she is in high school or maybe even college before it produces fruit.
Oh, how delicious that fruit will taste after all the years of faithfully tending to the tree, which was lovingly named Blossom.
Because of Blossom, trees have been on my mind lately. Ive long heard it said that as parents we are to gift our children two things roots and wings. The roots anchor a child and help them know where home is.
The wings allow them to fly away and explore, but they also help them come home. As a pastor called to accompany college students from South Dakota State University through the ministry of the University Lutheran Center, I often feel like this idea transfers over into my work.
With regard to faith, I help give young adults both roots and wings. I help students become rooted in their faith and create a community that they can call home or their home away from home. I also help them have wings, encouraging their flight and exploration of the world, all the while reminding them they can always come home, no judgment given and no questions asked.
I am diligent in helping students know that our community of faith can buoy them on their best of days and on their worst of days, and all the days in-between, too. Recently, I signed off on an email with the phrase rooting for you.
After I hit send, I recognized how powerful that phrase is and how it fully encompasses the way in which I lead as a pastor to these young adults. I am always rooting for them! I am cheering them on, lifting them up, reminding them of Gods free-flowing grace, and pointing them toward the cross to know the depth of Gods love for them.
My call to serve Gods people is lived out among college students, but this same good news is for you, too. Isaiah says, For you shall go out in joy and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands (55:12).
The trees are rooting for you! You, beloved child of God, are a tree well planted, rooted in Gods love, and watered by Gods abundant grace. Know that God is rooting for you as you spread your wings to explore and will always welcome you home, too. God is rooting for you!
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