Connected

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.”

John 15:5

I am a beginning gardener, and though my goal this spring was to start a cutting garden, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a few homegrown tomatoes. Yum! I did my part: I prepared good soil; I planted a healthy plant; I watered it and provided fertilizer; I even put in stakes for support. And I watched and waited. As the plant grew, I was fascinated with the tiny blooms and subsequent fruit growing. I was disheartened when one of the branches grew so heavy with new fruit that it broke from the vine. Did those tomatoes continue to mature and ripen? No! Did the vine continue to produce new blooms and fruit? No. Disconnected from the source of all its needs, the vine and its fruit withered and wasted away. I tossed it into a pile of yard rubbish destined to be burned.

Thinking of that once-healthy branch makes me desperate to ‘remain’…to stay connected to the vine. Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches” (John 15:5). All he tells me to do is to remain in Him. I don’t have to make myself grow or squeeze out blooms or create fruit. These are all products of remaining in Him. I do this by cultivating a continued awareness of His presence, by studying His Word, by fellowshipping with Him in prayer, by walking according to His laws. In Psalm 94, we learn that the righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they thrive in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green.

Jesus continued to pray in John 15:8: “My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples”. Lord: Be glorified in me!

Jill Hardin

Unless otherwise notated, all Scripture is from the Christian Standard Bible.