This is part of Streams of Consciousness Saturday
I am the true vine…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. (John 15:1a,4-5 NIV)
I got to thinking botanical thoughts. Roots of a vine absorb water and nutrients from the soil. This combines with the stored food made by the leaves to make the plant sap – the life of the vine. If a branch gets cut off from the vine, it doesn’t receive the sap. Not only does it not grow or produce fruit, it doesn’t live. It dies. At first glance, if a branch is broken but still looks like it is connected, there is no difference. For a few days the leaves remain green before starting to go limp and then slowly yellow and brown. Eventually the whole branch withers and dies.
Jesus says that’s what happens to us if our link to Him is broken. We wither and die, producing no fruit. On the flip side, if we remain in Him, we don’t have to strain and stress to produce fruit. It is not up to us. The life of the vine produces the grapes. Everything a living branch needs to produce fruit is provided. The chlorophyl in the leaves which enables them to produce glucose from carbon dioxide and water was set in the DNA of the plant from it beginning. Just by being a leaf, a leaf can produce food for the plant. It stores it as starch and it is available to the branch and the whole plant. Some of this nourishment goes into the production of grapes. It is a natural process.
All we need to do to produce fruit for the Kingdom of God, is to remain attached to Jesus, to maintain the link, to abide. The fruit comes from Him, through the Holy Spirit, the life-giving sap.
Thank you, Vine of Life, that I am attached to You, that I have no control over bearing fruit, except to remain in You.
Coffee in the Rain 