John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
My first house was the cutest little thing you ever saw; a little white wood frame with green shutters, it was 1,500 square feet of newlywed bliss. One of my favorite parts of the house was the back yard. In the back was a beautiful red bud tree. Every spring it would bloom bright pink flowers, it was absolutely stunning. One night we had a storm come through. For those of you unaware of "tornado alley," wind storms in Oklahoma can be quite destructive. In a matter of an hour the winds had kicked up and our beautiful tree had been knocked down right before it was to bloom.
It laid in our yard for the next week waiting to be taken care of and the most amazing thing happened. It started to bloom! Roots sticking up in the air, it laid there blooming its bright pink flowers. I knew it wouldn't be long before it died because its foundation wasn't in the ground. It was an amazing and sad thing to watch.
Reading John 15:5 reminded me of that tree, God is the vine, I am the branches. God is the ground in which that tree was planted, once it pulled away from the ground it was only a matter of time before it died. The thing about being a christian is we can "bloom," or at least fake it for awhile. We know the things to say, we know how to act, so that from the outside it appears that we are "blooming," but if we are out of the soil too long we will eventually die.
I encourage us to keep each other grounded and attached to the true vine.
