Branching Out
4 "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. (John 15:4) I have this little vine that has been attempting to grow for about two years now. Each spring, it sends out a little shoot, but before it can develop all that much, the hot suns of Arizona beat upon its fragile leaves and it withers. After a particularly hot summer, it has only about 5 leaves at the very base of it. I will cut is down, trimming away the dead shoots, and see if it has a chance to come back this fall, but I am not holding out much hope. Jesus reminds us that we have to be connected to the vine if we are to bear any fruit. Those shoots that I will trim away this weekend are indeed still connected to the vine, but they are definitely dead. They were affected by their environment more than they were affected by the vine they were ...