So…being completely honest here…up until the past few weeks, I have not been doing a great job of staying connected with God.
If you know me you know that I am a “doer”. I don’t hold that characteristic in the negative connotation category…until I do, that is. I mean, a doer gets things done! That’s a good thing, right? (Rhetorical, guys. 😉 )
I do tend to be task-oriented but I actually do embrace that gifting. “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us…” Romans 12:6. But the reality is that in a distracting world, operating in this particular gifting, I can get pulled to distracting busyness. And that always leads to making instantaneous decisions on my own. I don’t know about you but anytime I start making decisions on my own without His council, I end up way off track and completely disconnected from His original plan!
In our last women’s group meeting, we explored ‘The Vine and the Branches’ passage (John 15:1-17). What’s interesting is that when I read through the passage in my Bible to “prepare” for the meeting, I had highlighted the heck out of it in at least three different colors! Still…I ‘read’ through the passage. “Check ” ☑ “! Ready!”
It wasn’t until true connection during the group with God through this scripture that I heard Him loudly say to me. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11.
“Oh, so you don’t want me to ‘strive’ to get things done just for the heck of it, Lord?! What you really want is for me to be joyful in walking in my gifting as I glorify you?! Connecting the dots now…. :-/.“ Grace covers that. “Whew!”
A few weeks ago, a friend of ours was exploring the woods behind our church property and came across a tree branch on which a vine had wrapped around the branch. The vine was wrapped so tightly around the branch as the branch grew bigger that it left a deep spiral imprint up and down the length of the branch. He decided to take the branch and turn it into a staff.
He sat at a campfire with us and as he cleaned off the bark and you could begin to see how amazingly beautiful it was going to be! Eddie (my sweet husband) asked… “Isn’t it amazing that such beauty can come out of such strife?”
I have to admit that when he said that, I was more like…“Hmmm… that’s pretty good insight.” But now that God is, yet again, echoing His desire for me to remain in Him, I am reminded that just like that branch, some ungodly vines that may seemingly look like a good vine to connect with, can create strife.
Scars may remain but staying connected to Jesus, the True Vine, and even simply reconnecting, ensures that He can create beauty out of the strife that any ungodly vines may try to distract us with.
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