So, there's this...branch...yes, a tree branch, that has had my attention for the last several months and today I finally have the courage to talk about it! I noticed this branch in my front yard one day. Why? Because it's just not right. You see, instead of being parallel to the ground, like the other branches near it, this one is perpendicular and it looks as if it's heading South! It's leaves (or should I say needles) are mostly brown, with a few green ones here and there while the rest of the tree has remained green through and through. You can tell that this branch is barely hanging on.
Sometimes, I feel like this branch.
I believe it came to it's current condition after the last Hurricane we had here. The storm took down many other branches and limbs but this one appears to be fighting to hang on, to stay connected. Since that storm, many more have come, the winds have blown and the rains have come but it remains.
My mind meanders to John 15 (vs 1-8) where Jesus shares about the vine and the branches:
I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit. You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you]. Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned. If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine. I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [continue in His love with Me].
There are times where, like this branch, I feel barely connected , like the storms of life have left me barely able to hang on. And then there are times when I know I am vitally connected, vitally united to the vine.
I think my lesson to learn from the branch is to keep hanging on! Yes, the branch doesn't have much of a natural chance to be fully reconnected to the vine but thankfully, spiritually is a different matter! I want to remain vitally united with Him and I am thankful that He is my source of strength, hope and love!
