The Tap Root

Where is your limit, your boundary, for what you will be in life, or what you will do in life?

The thing about limits is that they are, mostly, in our minds! We limit our self with our fears or doubts, or we allow others to put limitations on us. Last night I heard a wonderful teaching, by Joy Graetz, on our call, which she called a tap root. On a marker board, she drew a tree, with the tap root running down the center of the tree. She taught that our call (tap root) is at the center or heart of who we are, who we were made to be for the Lord. I recommend listening to this teaching, because there is a lot of confusion within the body surrounding our callings.

(Open link and the media player for the recorded teaching –  http://www.worldlighthouse.org/#/media) You will get the full story listening to the teaching; this is just me sharing some of my own thoughts.)

One thing struck me, I remember my mom telling me that in Bonsai, to keep a tree small you have to cut the tap root. The tap root is the potential growth of that tree. Without cutting that specific root the tree will grow to its designated size, but snip that root and that tree will not grow; it is still alive, but it will just be a smaller version of what it was supposed to be.

Here are some statements about Root Pruning (tap root) in Bonsai, catch the Spiritual meanings here:
• Manipulation of Growth Through Root Pruning
• Plants are constantly in search of new water rich, nutrient rich material to grow their roots.
• In a container the situation is totally different. Roots tend to ‘colonize’ an area or container.
• If root bound plants are not top pruned they will quickly dry out on a hot day,
• Plants seem to need fresh new root growth in order to adequately absorb major and minor elements from the soil solution.
• In fact one the first symptoms of a root bound plant is a general chlorosis despite the fact that it is adequately fertilized. Root    pruning and repotting a root bound plant will invigorate it and cause a flush of new growth.
• Another symptom of a root bound condition is a loss of vigor, even under ideal conditions and adequate fertilization.
• The leaves will be very small and the internodes very short. Of course this is exactly the type of growth that we desire in bonsai, and we achieve it by keeping roots constrained in these tiny pots. However, growth is not a static condition, and if plants begin to generally decline it is probably time to root prune and repot.
• The object in bonsai is to keep trees dwarf and approximately the same size once they are finished. This means that they must be root pruned and repotted back into the same pot with new soil periodically.
• the roots must be substantially reduced as part of the training process to get them into the final desired bonsai pot.

There are those who would manipulate us to stay small and contained, and there are those of us who limit our self in our mind with the “I Can’t” lists, but in order to receive the living water and rich nutrients of God for our life we must be planted in Christ alone! Jesus takes us to churches, and connects us with people who will add rich nutrients, but we must be firmly planted in Christ.

There are ministries built to try and nourish the “root bound” believers, but let’s not settle for moving around “pot to pot”, relying on others to supply our water and nutrients, to revitalize our vigor, or heal the “rot”, but let’s get deeply rooted in Christ, He is all about Fullness, and allow Him to grow us to our full potential!

The word Limit, in the bible, is: Strong’s H1366 – gĕbuwl. This word means: Borders of a territory or region.  So, as Jabez prayed: “Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.” 1 Chron.4:10

The Good News: The tap root remains! You cannot lose it! It is at the core of who we are and God will grow us to our full potential if we ask Him to.

Jeremiah 17:7-9
  (NIV)
7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

Credits:
http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/rootprun.htm