Humble Roots of a Grounded and Nourished Soul

I've been reading Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul by Hannah Anderson. I usually don't recommend books before I'm finished reading them, but I can already, highly recommend this one! ​Are you feeling overwhelmed by life today? This is a great place to start the journey of finding peace and rest in a world that just keeps loading up our plates with anything but. I call it the "Do More Be More" world, and it only produces relentless anxiety, never peace or rest.

Finding peace and rest begins by pursuing a life of humility and dependence on God. Humble Roots is about real-life, relevant theology that helps us cultivate a life that leads to peace and rest. Matthew 11:28-29 says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." 

​Come to Me all you who labor and are heavily ladened down with your own burdens. That's us! Ladened down with burdens we put on ourselves, burdens we were never meant to carry alone. ​

​He promises rest if we just take His yoke and learn from Him. His yoke is so much easier than the one we've put on ourselves. His yoke is a yoke of humility and dependence on Him, not pride and dependence on ourselves. ​

I don't want to spoil the read for you or give away all the goodies of this book. I do want to encourage you to read it and learn humility from the lilies of the field and from the One who is truly Himself humility. Find out who you are, Who you are not, and discover the peace and rest that comes from belonging to Him. ​

"Failure at small things reminds us of how helpless we are in this great, wide world. When little things spiral out of control, they remind us that even they were never within our control in the first place.” —Hannah Anderson, Humble Roots

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“Humility teaches us that God is actively redeeming the world. And because He is, we can experience the relief of confessing our brokenness—whether it is intentional sin, our natural limitations, or simply the weight of living under the curse. Humility teaches us to find rest in confession. Rest from the need to hide, the need to be perfect. We rest by saying, both to God and others, “I am not enough. I need help.” And ultimately, the humility that leads us to confess our brokenness, both within and without, also frees us to grieve it and throw ourselves on the mercy of God. And this, more than anything, leads to rest. When humility expresses itself in godly sorrow, we can finally break down; we can finally let it all out; we can finally have that “good” cry. Good, both because it is a weeping, breath-sucking catharsis, but also because it is legitimate. Good, because it honestly faces the brokenness of the world while resting in something—Someone—greater. Good, because it leads to surrender. To cry like Jesus as He looks over Jerusalem. To cry like Jesus as He stands at Lazarus’s tomb. To cry like Jesus as He endures the cross and entrusts Himself to the Father.” ― Hannah Anderson, Humble Roots

"The Blue Ridge Parkway meanders through miles of rolling Virginia mountains. It's a route made famous by natural beauty and the simple rhythms of rural life.

And it's in this setting that Hannah Anderson began her exploration of what it means to pursue a life of peace and humility. Fighting back her own sense of restlessness and anxiety, she finds herself immersed in the world outside, discovering a classroom full of forsythia, milkweed, and a failed herb garden. Lessons about soil preparation, sour mulch, and grapevine blights reveal the truth about our dependence on God, finding rest, and fighting discontentment.

Humble Roots is part theology of incarnation and part stroll through the fields and forest. Anchored in the teaching of Jesus, Anderson explores how cultivating humility - not scheduling, strict boundaries, or increased productivity - leads to peace. "Come unto me, all who labor and are heavy laden," Jesus invites us, "and you will find rest for your souls."

So come. Learn humility from the lilies of the field and from the one who is humility himself. Remember who you are and who you are not, and rediscover the rest that comes from belonging to him." --goodreads

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Have you read Humble Roots? If so, how did you like the book?