Find Our Roots and Remain (+ Story Snippets!)

His fingers turned my chin to look straight into his face. "No honor is greater than being a servant of the King's way, my son."

I rubbed at my eyebrow and looked away.

"It comes with a price. I have sought the Oasis and the King, and I lost much... You too may have loss if you follow the King's ways, but it is always worth the pain."

I leaned my chin onto my fist. My forehead grew tight. The words tumbled through my head, but they couldn't seem to connect.

"Don't forget, Rekém." He leaned forward. "Don't forget the Oasis. There is so much I do not understand, but never forget the Oasis and where our people came from. And my son, when you are confused, go find our roots and remain there. Find the four riverheads that flowed into the Oasis. When you find where the moon-flower grows, you will be there..."

A shadow passed over his face. "It's your decision, my son."

 

- The Torch Keepers // chapter 7 

Life can sometimes feel like I'm an artist.

I have a blank canvas, brushes by my fingertips, the bristles eager to jump into paint and spread beauty across the world. My easel is ready, and I unseal the tubes of paint to let them slowly leak onto the table. I fill a jar with water, grab another to hold the brushes, inhale deep.

Sometimes I paint the canvas.

Angles and dabs, squiggles and marks from the fan brush. They combine to form a melody from an orchestra, all those colors and lines and marks making something beautiful beyond myself. Something that takes on meaning. Something that tells a story and makes you smile and creates emotion in your eyes.

Other times, I paint different things.

Like my toddler sister's fingers. She grabs the paint tubes and squeezes. Color everywhere - on her hands and face and bare tummy. Blue on the floor and green on the door handles and in the sink. Little footsteps on the kitchen floor, that half-circle and five little toes.

Or maybe I don't paint anything. Maybe the dreams twine in my mind, and I keep them there, secretly locked up like an attic chest, treasures within.

My days are like that. Some create obvious beauty. Some make colorful, confusing messes. Others feel secretive, waiting.

If my value and purpose as a person was in my art itself, my work, my days, I'd be a miserable failure. But praise God, it isn't. He makes every single day beautiful and purposeful - especially those toddler fingers.

Joy comes, not in the art alone, but in rejoicing in the Artist who fills my heart with dreams to create. He is my root.

 

I was made to lift up my hands in praise to you

I was made to lift up my voice just to worship you

Who is like you, Lord God the Almighty, You are holy

- Jon Thurlow

Friend, find our roots and remain.

Remember where we came from. Savor the moment you first met Jesus and fell in love. Re-live those times He answered your prayers. The moments you wanted to dance because He filled you with joy. When you were scared, and He covered you with His feathers. All those times He was faithful.

They happen again. He is faithful continually! But there's also beauty in the remembering, in the thanking and whispers of praise.

Like Rekém in The Torch Keepers as he returns to his roots and discovers a glory and peace he cannot describe. Like his father, recounting stories of the ancient tales that still inspire hope.

And like you today, wherever you are, whatever life throws at you or smears on your canvas, whether obvious or abstract masterpieces, there's this greater purpose, and it's beautifully Jesus. He is our First Love.

If today seems to make masterpieces, messy toddlers, or blank canvases, it's all for good! God is the One who gives you those dreams. Live them just to praise Him, just to worship Him!

Life is a continual praise.

That's the root, Friend, the firm foundation: praising Him.

Where life has purpose. We have purpose.

But it's your decision. What's your root today?

 

Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit;

So he who waits on his master will be honored. 

- Proverbs 27:18

Thus says the LORD:

"Stand in the ways and see,

And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,

And walk in it;

Then you will find rest for your souls..." 

- Jeremiah 6:16

~♥~