While we slept Monday night, snow fell for the second time in five days. This brings the snow total this month to 20.3 inches. Last year we had only two and a half inches for the entire winter. This second snow sat heavy on trees and power lines. Many experienced electrical outages throughout the area.

About 5:30 Tuesday morning I awoke and crept downstairs to see how deep the new layer of snow was on the patio. In the pre-dawn darkness I detected something lying across our back yard, barely missing the patio fence. A closer look revealed a missing tree in our neighbor’s yard. The 43-year-old pine had toppled under the weight of the new-fallen snow.

A friend told me pine trees have shallow roots. Her statement reminded me of a scripture.

It’s found in Ephesians 3:16-19. Here, the apostle Paul prays for believers that, “He (Father God), would grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”

To face the coming days, we need to ask God for the strength that only He can give. If we don’t, we will be like the tree that now rests in my backyard. Uprooted and useless.

Father God, cause us to be deeply rooted, firmly planted in You and Your love, so that when storms come, we will remain standing to glorify You.