Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

The spiritual practice of putting down roots

OpinionJayne Hugo Davis  |  September 18, 2015

Davis Jayne ColumnBy Jayne Hugo Davis

“In whatever place you find yourself, do not easily leave it.” — Abba Antony

I love finding tiny volunteer maple saplings around my yard. They spring up between the bushes in the landscaping bed or behind the lattice that hides our trash can from view. Each find is a small treasure that I quickly scoop up and replant somewhere in the yard where it has room to grow.

My favorite is the maple tree along our front fence. It probably has been there for a dozen years or more. I’ve lost track. No more than eight or ten inches high when I planted it in the ground, it now towers a good 20 feet in the air. From the window over my kitchen sink I can see the vibrant green leaves in summer and the strong, outstretched branches in winter. The sight of it always makes me smile and the same thought runs through my mind — what a gift it is to be in this place long enough to watch it grow.

Some things you only get to see when you stick around awhile.

In The Wisdom of Stability, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove contends that one of the most important things we can do to grow spiritually is to stay put and pay attention, to recover “a rootedness that most of us sense we are missing in our hurry to keep up amid constant change.”

For years there was a revolving door of different families moving in and out of the house right next to ours. We thought maybe it was us. My attention to weeding is obviously lax enough to allow for the growth of small tree saplings, after all. But the reality is most folks today will have 10 different jobs before they turn 40 and move an average of 12 times over the course of their lifetime.

I would never have guessed that my husband and I would live in the same house for 18 years or the same city for 26, or that I would be in the same job for 15 years. My spirit can feel as restless as the culture we live in, always looking around the corner, always longing for something new. But over the years I have learned to receive rootedness as a gift.

When roots go deep they offer stability and make the tree strong, able to ride out storms. They provide nourishment and enable the tree to grow and bear fruit.

My friend Rebecca and I wanted our children to have that rootedness, that sense of place and belonging. The older ones were becoming teenagers and would soon be going their own way. So we started game night — a pot luck dinner and (forced) family fun. For the last 10 years we have gathered most Friday nights in each other’s homes. Other families have become part of the group and many guests have found a place at our table along the way, including many friends of our children. The community of game night has been an anchor in our lives. These relationships are a gift of God to me. They give me the strength to ride out the storms of life and they feed my soul. What a gift it is that I have been in this place long enough to watch it grow.

Some things you only get to experience when you stick around awhile.

It’s hard to stay put — in a job, in a relationship, in a community. It’s hard to stay put in a conversation sometimes! To invest ourselves where we are. Because eventually it gets challenging. People will disappoint us. Our own shortcomings will begin to show through. We’re distracted by other opportunities that promise more or better or that offer an escape from what is difficult where we are.

My friend Mike Queen would often quote one of his seminary professors, Dr. Bob Dale, who offered this powerful statement in class one day:

“Your best ministry will come after you have been in a place for at least seven years,” Dale said. “Because few ministers stay in one church that long, most of you will never know what your best really is.”

That statement is not just true for ministers.

“Staying is so important,” says writer Ragan Sutterfield, “because it forces us to face the real problems in our lives — the problems we can’t mask with new friends, a new job, a new house, or a new car. Staying shows us that what we need isn’t another church or a town where people ‘get us’ or a new adventure. What we need is to face ourselves and stay still long enough for God to change us.”

Certainly there are times when God calls us to go, when change is what is good and healthy and life giving. But if we’re honest, there have been many other times in our lives when we have discovered the painful truth of the words of one of the desert fathers:

“Wherever you go, you will find that what you are running from is ahead of you.”

How will you live out the spiritual practice of putting down roots?

How will you stay still long enough for God to change you?

And what gift might you receive?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)

OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Jayne Hugo DaviscolumnsCommunitySpiritualitySpiritual FormationSpiritual Disciplines
More by
Jayne Hugo Davis
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • Mike Stone has an unlikely nominator for his SBC presidential run

      News

    • Finding hope in the church despite these two documentaries

      Opinion

    • New assistance programs cause poverty rate among immigrants to fall in U.S.

      News

    • What I learned when I invited a friend to church who processes the world differently than me

      Opinion


    Curated

    • Pope Benedict XVI’s cousins stand to inherit his money. None of them want it.

      Pope Benedict XVI’s cousins stand to inherit his money. None of them want it.

    • Why Mike Pence thinks he has a prayer in 2024

      Why Mike Pence thinks he has a prayer in 2024

    • Pastor: We’ve heard much about ‘indoctrination.’ What do you call Catholic charter school?

      Pastor: We’ve heard much about ‘indoctrination.’ What do you call Catholic charter school?

    • Arabic ‘In God We Trust’ signs will test limits of Louisiana’s law

      Arabic ‘In God We Trust’ signs will test limits of Louisiana’s law

    Read Next:

    How the new documentary series Shiny Happy People intersects with mainstream Christianity

    AnalysisMallory Challis

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Once again, Congress urged to protest Afghan refugees on temporary status in U.S.

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Rick Warren is leading a one-man campaign against the very SBC leaders who once admired him

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Brogdon urges forthright approach to ‘problematic’ biblical texts

      NewsPat Cole

    • U.S. urged to respond to plight of Black Mauritanians

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Juneteenth emancipation then and now

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Welton Gaddy, Baptist champion of interfaith religious freedom

      NewsMarv Knox

    • I’m relearning how to take Pride

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • Texas Baptists expel two more churches for welcoming LGBTQ Christians

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • New assistance programs cause poverty rate among immigrants to fall in U.S.

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Finding hope in the church despite these two documentaries

      OpinionErin Albin Hill

    • Transitions for the week of 6-9-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Mike Stone has an unlikely nominator for his SBC presidential run

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Southwestern trustees release 20 years of financials that show devastating decline began under Patterson

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • How to connect the dots while watching Shiny Happy People

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • How the new documentary series Shiny Happy People intersects with mainstream Christianity

      AnalysisMallory Challis

    • What I learned when I invited a friend to church who processes the world differently than me

      OpinionDebby Haralson

    • On migrant crisis, the U.S. and UK governments share a controversial tactic in common

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • A friendly conversation on being ‘woke’

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • When a Baptist Press story tells you only part of the story

      AnalysisMark Wingfield

    • 27% of Americans are still watching religious services online

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Resolving to ‘respect the diversity’ of the global Baptist family

      AnalysisSteven R. Harmon

    • ‘Leaders are formed in the leading,’ Bolsinger advises pastors

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The right’s zero-tolerance policy on Pride

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • The whole gospel of God for a church and nation in crisis

      OpinionH. Stephen Shoemaker

    • Once again, Congress urged to protest Afghan refugees on temporary status in U.S.

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Rick Warren is leading a one-man campaign against the very SBC leaders who once admired him

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Brogdon urges forthright approach to ‘problematic’ biblical texts

      NewsPat Cole

    • U.S. urged to respond to plight of Black Mauritanians

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Welton Gaddy, Baptist champion of interfaith religious freedom

      NewsMarv Knox

    • Texas Baptists expel two more churches for welcoming LGBTQ Christians

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • New assistance programs cause poverty rate among immigrants to fall in U.S.

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Transitions for the week of 6-9-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Mike Stone has an unlikely nominator for his SBC presidential run

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Southwestern trustees release 20 years of financials that show devastating decline began under Patterson

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • On migrant crisis, the U.S. and UK governments share a controversial tactic in common

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • 27% of Americans are still watching religious services online

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • ‘Leaders are formed in the leading,’ Bolsinger advises pastors

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • One year after Roe was overturned, states have a ‘hodgepodge of laws’

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Shurden Lecture takes on the ‘myth of American chosenness’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • What happens when Tom Ascol finds Ted Cruz to be too liberal and quotes Leviticus 20:13?

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Three billboards outside Nashville, Tennessee

      NewsRick Pidcock

    • Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina loses president and board chair in same week

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Faith-based immigration advocates hopeful about new bill in Congress

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Coalition urges White House not to overlook Black immigrants

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Gay Christian man says he was kicked off BWA commissions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Southwestern trustees affirm their leadership and repudiate two trustees who raised alarms

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • How to fix anemic U.S. rural health care? Learn from Africa and look to the churches, Birx says

      NewsElizabeth Souder

    • Medical professionals address myths and misconceptions about transgender kids

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Juneteenth emancipation then and now

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • I’m relearning how to take Pride

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • Finding hope in the church despite these two documentaries

      OpinionErin Albin Hill

    • What I learned when I invited a friend to church who processes the world differently than me

      OpinionDebby Haralson

    • A friendly conversation on being ‘woke’

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • The right’s zero-tolerance policy on Pride

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • The whole gospel of God for a church and nation in crisis

      OpinionH. Stephen Shoemaker

    • The rhetorical genius of Rick Warren

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Remembering the Tulsa race massacre of 1921

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • The Respect for Marriage Act helped de-escalate the culture wars

      OpinionTanner Bean

    • Is Rick Warren reviving the fight against the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC?

      OpinionMeredith Stone

    • An open letter to all Southern Baptists

      OpinionRick Warren

    • An open letter to Elijah Brown, Baptist World Alliance CEO

      OpinionRichard Wilson

    • Why this seminary professor’s view of MrBeast and his friend is deadly and dangerous

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • What I learned from Taylor Swift

      OpinionBill Wilson

    • Remembering Pulse nighclub and the power of affirmation

      OpinionMaina Mwaura

    • Working and waiting with people and plants

      OpinionBob Newell

    • Let’s reclaim the real Baptist identity

      OpinionJustin L. Addington

    • To the mother who complained about Amanda Gorman’s poem

      OpinionRobert P. Sellers

    • Rising from the ashes: God’s empowering message for displaced women

      OpinionRosaly Guzman

    • How the Progressive National Baptist Convention plans to put faith into action

      OpinionDarryl Gray

    • Believe me: The struggle of Black pain

      OpinionZachary Barber

    • They’ll know we are Christians by our what?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • How to celebrate Pentecost without balloons, plastic doves or salsa

      OpinionJack Levison

    • The generational pain and hope of the Southern Baptist witch trials

      OpinionWill Raybon

    • Pope Benedict XVI’s cousins stand to inherit his money. None of them want it.

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why Mike Pence thinks he has a prayer in 2024

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pastor: We’ve heard much about ‘indoctrination.’ What do you call Catholic charter school?

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Arabic ‘In God We Trust’ signs will test limits of Louisiana’s law

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Flashpoint in Israel: Divide between religious and secular Jews heats up under Netanyahu’s rule

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Oklahoma OKs the nation’s first religious charter school – but litigation is likely to follow

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why you might notice more religious groups at Pride celebrations this year

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Utah district’s Bible ban spurs protest by parents, Republicans

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Polish city throws children’s bubble party on top of Jewish graves

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Seattle’s Quest Church leaves ECC as church affirms LGBTQ Christians

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Vatican bank reports significant profit adopting Catholic ethics

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Thousands Gather Outside Colorado Capitol Calling On Governor To Ban All Guns

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Fighting For Peace: Russians Use Faith To Protest Invasion Of Ukraine Despite Risks

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Anti-hate mural showcasing Jewish diversity goes up in LA neighborhood where antisemitic shootings took place

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • What Happens When Christians and Muslims Translate Scripture Side by Side

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How Biden has navigated LGBTQ issues as a Catholic president

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • New Capital Jewish Museum ‘connects the past to the present’ in downtown DC

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Arson investigation underway after fire burns Los Angeles church for second time in 2 years

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Lionized for his Jan. 6 antics, Jake Angeli finds his spiritual beliefs a harder sell

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Utah district bans Bible in elementary and middle schools ‘due to vulgarity or violence’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial, Jewish rituals feature as prominently as the carnage of the day

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Manipur Christians: ‘The Violence Has Shattered Us’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pride flag glimpsed on ‘The Chosen’ set prompts call for boycott

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why Chick-fil-A Is Drawing Fire Over a ‘Culture of Belonging’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Survey: Drop in Eastern European antisemitism may be due to Zelenskyy effect

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS