When I finally took on the task of repotting my papaya plant, I was acting in the moment. I didn’t really have the right tools, and I cannot claim to be green fingered, but I decided to just go for it, and it felt good.
As I dug into the soil, and around where I thought the roots were, I became concerned with the prospect of cutting through the roots; but also aware that some damage was inevitable. Why? Because the original pot it was in, was way too small. Hence the roots had spread as far as they could go, before having no option but to wind back in on themselves.
When I finally got to the point of being able to lift it out of it’s original pot, I was both amazed, and dismayed. Amazed, at the crazy amount of roots -intricately entwined together- that had been lying beneath the soil. Dismayed, to think that they had been deprived of the space to properly spread out, go deep, grow…
The sight of those roots also made me think about our lives. About how the wonderfully intricate elements, gifts, parts of ourselves etc. can lie hidden, possibly never to be seen. Furthermore, how they can be stifled, because we are planted in a space that is not spacious enough for our roots to properly grow. – Something we may or may not have control over.
One of my favourite verses of scripture says,
He brought me out to a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. – Psalm 18:19/2 Samuel 22:20 (CSB)
Sometimes we need to be aided into a more ‘spacious place.’ Sometimes we need to create that space for ourselves. Which may entail the repotting of ourselves in more favourable circumstances.
Here’s hoping we find ourselves in the best circumstances possible. Enabling us to spread out, go deep, grow, and thrive.