Nothing is more iconic to the Tucson landscape than the saguaro. The emblematic cactus is to the Sonoran Desert what the palm tree is to Miami: hard to imagine without it. Saguaros typically live between one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five years, not sprouting its trademark arms until around thirty to seventy years of its life and growing to around fifty feet tall.
For those Sonoran Desert natives, we intuitively know where saguaros thrive. They love the rocky (both granite and volcanic) soil at the foothills of the five beautiful mountain ranges that surround Tucson.
It’s counter-intuitive that the seemingly inhospitable soil would be the best place for the massive cactus to thrive. But the granite and volcanic rock are not a problem for the powerful roots of the saguaro and, in fact, provide stability for its six-ton horizontal frame. Young saguaros develop under the protection of a mother plant such as a mesquite or palo verde tree or creosote bush. After having acclimated to the harsh conditions of desert life, saguaros outlive the mother plant and move into adulthood with exposure to the sun and wind.
Have you noticed that Christians behave similar to the saguaro? We do everything we can to protect ourselves and those we love from exposure to the painful elements. It’s natural and good that we try to shield children (at least to a degree) from significant pain. And yet, while we also want to avoid the rocky ground, the scorching sun, and exposure to the storms of life, we recognize that the Christians who are the heartiest are not those who have developed in the greenhouse, but in the elements.
The author of Hebrews makes a similar point,
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Heb 12:2-7)
The rocky soil life is not a result of God’s punishment or displeasure of you, but rather proof of his great love for you! God “disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness” (Heb. 12:10). May you see trials as opportunities for God to build you up in spiritual maturity as part of a benevolent plan for your life to conform you to Christlikeness. These opportunities are a call to perseverance and endurance. You, like the mighty saguaro, are made for the rock. It is there your roots will go deep, and inch by inch you will grow heavenward.
Do not fear the rocky ground, it is the place where the Lord will root you deeply.
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Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash