Lessons From My Crispy Plant: The Power of Deep Roots in a Shallow World.

A few weeks ago, my friend bought me a plant. (Stay with me here.)

Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I am not a plant mum. I’ve never had that magical green thumb, but this time, I had every intention of doing it right. I thought, this plant is going to thrive under my care. I was ready to water it, nurture it, maybe even talk to it (because apparently that helps!).

But then… life happened. Work got busy, other things distracted me, and watering the plant slipped further and further down my list. Before long, instead of being lush and thriving, it started looking more like “crispy décor” than “fresh greenery.”

Here’s the thing though: the real problem wasn’t just that I forgot to water it - it’s that its roots never really had a chance to go deep. It was sitting in shallow soil, looking cute in its pot, but without the depth to actually survive when things got tough.

And honestly? Isn’t that just like us sometimes? We put on a smile, we show up, we keep things looking okay on the outside but underneath, our roots might not be deep enough to keep us steady when life gets heavy. When challenges hit, relationships get messy, family life is overwhelming, or the pressure is just too much, we realise our “soil” isn’t strong enough to sustain us.

I’ve been reflecting a lot on what it really means to be rooted. When I think about roots, I often picture a tree, steady, planted, unshaken no matter the season. But the truth is, being rooted doesn’t always feel that way in our everyday lives. Sometimes, life feels more like a storm than stillness, our work, friendships, faith, and even our identity pulling us in different directions.

I’ve had seasons where I thought I was grounded, but one challenge or disappointment exposed how shallow my “roots” really were. It’s easy to root ourselves in things like success, people’s approval, or even our own plans, only to find they don’t hold up when the winds blow.

That’s why being rooted in Christ means so much to me. It’s not about pretending the storms don’t come, but about having a source of strength, nourishment, and stability that never fails. Christ becomes our anchor, our soil, our living water.

And as women, this theme resonates so deeply. We carry so much - responsibilities, emotions, dreams, expectations and sometimes we feel like we’re supposed to have it all together. But the truth is, when we’re rooted in Christ, we don’t stand because we’re strong enough; we stand because He is.

I often go back to the women of the Bible for encouragement. Women like Ruth, Esther, Hannah, and Mary. They were deeply rooted in faith, in obedience, in courage. Yet if I’m honest, sometimes they feel so far removed from us today. Their stories are set in such a different time and place, and it can almost feel impossible to measure up to their kind of faith.

But here’s what I’ve come to realise: they weren’t superheroes. They were women, real women who chose to plant themselves firmly in God’s promises, even when life didn’t make sense. That same choice is available to us today.

Being rooted doesn’t mean having it all figured out. It means knowing where to draw our strength from. It means staying planted when life tries to uproot us. It means saying: I may bend, but I won’t break. My roots run deep in Christ.

This is why the theme of being rooted is so close to my heart and why I believe it’s essential for us as women of faith today. If we’re going to thrive, not just survive, we need to remain grounded in the One who never changes. Because when our roots are in Christ, our fruit, our joy, our peace, our courage can flourish no matter what season we’re in.