I pruned and sawed and my faithful sons hauled them to the curb where the city will pick up and run them through the chipper on trash-day Friday. Well, they say they will come for the branches on trash day in the town newsletter but they rarely do. There is a large pile of branches in my front lawn today.
As I walked out this morning I was struck by how wilted the leaves were just 18 hours later. The vigorous spring growth now looks like old useless scrub. When it is not connected to the tree, the life is gone much faster than I would have imagined yesterday. And I was reminded of the words of Jesus – actually they are some verses that are in my meditation/memorization notebook in my own scribbles. I read them before I walked outside this morning.
“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.
“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.
“I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
To produce fruit we need to stay connected to the tree. All the work, all the effort, all striving will just leave us on the curb wilting if we are not connected. I often forget that, that is why I needed to write the verses in my little black book. Yes it is really little and black. If I am feeling lifeless and limp, maybe before anything else I need to see if I am connected to the source of life.
