The Vine

“Jesus wants to be our life source who fills us and helps us to live out what He has called us to do each and every day.”

 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NLT)

I love to garden. For some reason, that veggie garden brings me so much peace and joy (except on those really hot summer days). One of my favorite veggies to grow is zucchini, but that is mainly because we get to make a ton of chocolate zucchini muffins from it! So when I read today’s verse, a garden and zucchini is how I pictured it. The verse says that “I (that is Jesus) am the vine and you (that’s us) are the branches.” A vine is the main source of all nutrition that comes into a plant. In a zucchini plant, there is a main base, then there are stems that come off of those with the leaves of the plant, then off of those stems comes smaller stems that end up flowering and eventually growing into the zucchini. 

This past year I, unfortunately, had part of a zucchini plant die off and it did not produce anything. It all came down to that main base at the bottom and the stems that are attached to it. They had been broken, damaged and torn off. No zucchini came from that side of that plant because the stems had been broken off that main base and could not get the nutrition to the flowering branches that produce the veggie. 

Jesus is that main stem to us. He is the vine that brings all nutrition into our life. We are the branches that extend off of the vine. If we continue to remain in Jesus, we will “produce much fruit”. We will continue to grow. Yet just like my zucchini plant, if we come apart from that main vine, we can’t produce anything; we are not connected to the One who gives us our source of energy and strength. 

I’m sure we all know, as moms, we need that vine. We need that source of energy and strength in our lives. The way we stay connected to that vine is to remain in Jesus. He is our source of power. Jesus wants to be our life source who fills us and helps us to live out what He has called us to do each and every day. He is the one who fills our hearts, soul and body to give us that strength. 

Jesus said to remain in Him. Remaining in Him means to take the time to continue to grow closer to Him. He wants to be that ultimate source of energy for you in which you find everything you need. He wants to help us get through our days and to produce that good fruit so that in turn, we can pour into others. 

Jesus also said that if we are apart from Him, we can do nothing. Friends, don’t let yourself fall off of that vine. He is our source of strength. Stay connected to Him so that you can flourish and grow. Stay connected to Him because we can’t do it on our own. I don’t know about you, but there are days I’m not sure how I made it through. Yet in looking back, I can now see that the only way that I was able to get through is because of Jesus. We need Jesus and we need His strength to flow through us. Remain connected to the vine. 

Action Step:

• Pray with me: Lord I need You. I need You to fill me and be the source of strength that I can look to each and every day. Help me to remain in You. Help me to always remember that You are my vine. You are the one who is always there to make sure that I have what I need in order to grow. You are the one that is my strength. I always want to remain in you Lord. Amen.

Written by Kara, a mom who needs to remain connected to the vine,