Poisonous Roots

I went to the see the movie For Colored Girls. It is not a movie for BLACK people. It is a movie for ALL people in that it is a story that goes on behind the doors of many. The women wore different colors with different issues. Issues that we have all heard about and some live daily, but often are not discussed. These are deep rooted issues. It reminds me that people go about their lives showing only their surface sides; the sides of our lives that we only want the world to see. Just as a tree stands strong in the wind, deep below the surface are its roots that we don’t see.

Roots have many functions, all of which are to sustain the life that they support. They serve as anchors, sources of nourishment and storage of nutrients. We are anchored by what we have endured. The storms that we have survived make us stronger and able to sustain new winds that may blow. We are nurtured and fed by the knowledge that we have survived and that we are still standing strong.

Then there is the poison. As we are going about our lives thriving and effectively resisting the negative influences that we are faced with, we are sometimes attacked with poison meant to kill us. Poison such as heartache from cheating, slander, abuse and betrayal to name a few. The saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.” We have to recognize the poison for what it is and stop it before it gets to our roots, to the core of our being. We cannot allow the will of another to tear us down. If it gets below the surface, it spreads. It begins to kill us slowly, by eating away at our sustenance until we are left withered. This is unacceptable. We must dig it up these poisoned roots so that we can live on.

That’s where the potter comes in. The potter not only molds the clay, but re-pots us. He sets us on course to restoration. He surrounds us with HIS word, His fertile ground. He nurtures us and provides us with HIS SON. He protects us as we grow tall and form new roots once again. We go on pushing forward, sturdier than ever before.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8


[All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus. Romans 3: 24 ( Amplified)