This doesn’t look like much. It’s the root of a tree poking up through the soil and then back down again. On a recent trip to old family stomping grounds, I stepped on and over this root dozens of times as I headed in and out of my cabin.
It occurred to me on about the fourth day that likely hundreds of people had stepped on that same root. It is on the grounds of a church conference center that has hosted generations of families, including mine, for almost a hundred years.
This place connects me to my family and faith roots, my great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings and children have all been here as visitors or staff over the decades. It is the place we all think of for gathering, it is home even for those of us who don’t live there. So the idea of this actual root being in my path as I was connecting to these metaphorical roots captured my attention.
The trees, of course, have been there longer. The root I stepped on and over wound its way across a small hill and it was connected not only to the trunk of the tree, but to the other tendrils of root stretching in all directions. Spread out, but enduringly linked to its origin. Very like me and my own family,
It is a blessing to have a place that connects you to family. Not just events – like births and deaths and weddings – but a piece of the earth that nourished the people who nourished you. No matter how many generations pass or how far apart we spend most of our lives, it is comforting to know that this place will bind us. And it is also special that so many other families have roots there, too. We are a veritable forest of families, new ones are planted all the time.
Of course, the place is beautiful and peaceful, yet it isn’t the place itself but the experiences we’ve had there that make it a place of rootedness. Experiences of joy, acceptance, trust, and comfort. It might have been any place, but for us those experiences happened here.
The root that I stepped on and over doesn’t look like much. But for the tree it is connected to, it is everything. Very like me and my own family roots.