Vine and Branches 

Our backyard is bordered by a wood fence and gates. Until recently the cornfield on the other side was almost hidden by prodigious growth—wild, straggly, and shamefully allowing an invasive species. After much toil and time, the undesirable parts are cleared. The corn has also been picked. No longer can the deer, as well as squirrels and raccoons who littered our yard with kernels, hide. For all this we thank Dan, one of our associates and a great asset to our maintenance team.

Meanwhile our front yard jealously begged for maintenance, too, by us Sisters. Loads of ivy, chrysanthemums, ground cover, and weeds—all very tenacious—had to be cleared. The most difficult task was tending to the vines, the interconnections hiding their beginnings and endings. The tedious job provided meditation on the Vine and the Branches (John 15:5). Jesus the Vine holds us—each of us—securely. There’s no getting away from Jesus Christ—even if we tried. You and I are the branches—always receiving life from the Vine, ever extending Christ’s influence in the world. And we do it together in unity, as one vine with innumerable branches. Lately we read about division and disunity, two sides, differing outlooks. But underneath the talk there is an impenetrable, ever-present connection.