Get Connected, Stay Connected

After getting a chance the other day to trim the tops off some bushes with my hubby’s new hedge trimmer, I almost immediately thought about how most, if not all, of the pieces I had just cut had fallen straight into the bush.  Unlike the times when I manually trimmed the bushes, I could not as easily grab the cut portions immediately to throw them away.

So, for a short while, those severed pieces will blend in and look like they are still part of the growing bush.  But time will soon enough reveal their secret.

While they are in this state, they will continue to receive the same amount of sunshine and rain as the rest of the bush.  We usually think that sunshine and water are the critical factors in keeping a plant alive and healthy.  But, as I’ve just been made more aware of, there’s something else far more critical to keeping branches, flowers, and grass alive.

What does a plant need more than life-giving water and light?  It needs to stay connected to its root-stem.  Without that main venue for critical nutrients, all the sunshine and rainwater it would normally get will not maintain its vitality.  Even remaining in close proximity to its fellow branches/flowers/grass blades will not keep it alive.

We are no different.

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”—Jesus, John 15:4-6 NIV

 Thanks for reading!

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. http://www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™