Prairie plants send down deep roots—with good reason. During dry times, these long, sturdy roots find hidden moisture underground, nourishing the part above ground. Also, by holding the soil together in severe winds and floods, these roots play a major role in preventing erosion. 

By contrast, cultivated lawns have shallow roots and need consistent watering to survive. Without ample rain or a watering system, cultivated lawns will, at best, turn very brown. 

Thinking about these different root systems reminded me of a letter written to the early Christians at Ephesus. It declared that their spiritual roots would grow deep down into the strength and durability of God’s love: “Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.… Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God” (Ephesians 3:17–19, New Living Translation).

Through the years, I’ve had to learn a lot about deepening my “spiritual roots.” In college I joined a sorority, but after some months, the evolving emphasis on drinking and boys and carousing around town wasn’t a comfortable fit. So without praying, or even thinking through potential consequences, I resigned from the group. The young women who had been my friends appeared to be hurt, and some seemed angry. This abrupt change marked the beginning of a mental drought for me—an unhappy feeling of emptiness.  

For several months I also struggled with feeling adrift and having thoughts of suicide. I’m grateful that an awareness of the anguish suicide would bring to my family and others who cared about me kept me from pursuing such a course.

Murky and troubling moments began to give way to the steady light of God’s ever-present love.

Thanks to a grandpa who had started me off in regular attendance at a Christian Science Sunday School when I was three years old, I had an appreciation of God as Love. I cherished many Bible stories in which God’s power and presence rescued and healed those in great need. I had seen healings in my family through Christian Science. Now my circumstances provided an opportunity to dig deeper on my own.

Thoughtful study of the Bible Lessons found in the Christian Science Quarterly, which include passages from the Bible and from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, along with the loving support of dedicated Sunday School teachers, fortified my spiritual growth. Murky and troubling moments (mental “floods” of sorts) began to give way to the steady light of God’s ever-present love, which gradually and completely displaced the darkness I’d felt in thought, including thoughts of suicide. Satisfying friendships developed in my major field of study. God’s deep and powerful love had been nourishing my not-so-deep spiritual roots, helping them become more firmly established. 

When it came time to commit to a career, it became clear that the one I had expected to pursue was not such a good fit. And by now prayer felt like a really good idea. As I prayed for guidance and direction, there was no anxiety. I soon saw an ad I had never seen before, and was led to apply for Christian Science nurse’s training. I was accepted, and Christian Science nursing was a wonderful fit for me. While helping others in an atmosphere that supports Christian Science healing, my own spiritual roots continued to grow deeper. 

My choices over the ensuing years have inclined steadily toward a life of service; I am always learning more of what it means to love God with all my heart and soul and strength and mind and to love my neighbor as myself (see Luke 10:25–28). 

Spiritual roots, reaching deep beneath the surface of material circumstances, find nourishment in divine Love.

When facing metaphorical mental droughts or floods, faith in the human mind inevitably turns out to be “shallow roots” that fall short of leading to good solutions. A sincere desire to understand our relation to God—who is infinite, ever-present, and intelligent Love and has created each of us in His likeness—leads to a dependable sturdiness that can withstand or even avert circumstances that feel like droughts or floods. These spiritual roots, reaching deep beneath the surface of material appearances and circumstances, find nourishment, direction, and healing in divine Love.

God has given each of us the “good ground” Jesus defined in a parable as “an honest and good heart” (Luke 8:15). As we cultivate that “ground” and open our thought to God’s Word (the seed in the parable), spiritual truth grows in our thought and bears fruit. God has designed us to bless and be blessed, and nothing can thwart His purpose. As our unseen roots (spiritual understanding) firmly engage with the irresistible power of God’s love, our lives bear wholesome fruit, expressing qualities such as peace, kindness, grace, and wisdom.

Mary Baker Eddy, who founded this magazine, understood the vitality of spiritual stability and its ability to carry us through tough times. In a poem paying tribute to a mighty oak at the summit of a mountain, she wrote:

This can be our prayer as well.