Last week I was watching a Youtube post about a gardener grafting a cut off rose twig from one plant into another plant. She was creating something new. Though I have heard of this before, I had never seen it done. I am not a gardener, so it was quite interesting to me. What the gardener proceeded to do was to wrap a whole bunch of tape around this new graft. Over time it resulted in a new, unique and beautiful flower. I pondered: So something that was dead will now be alive and beautiful; and only because it is connected to that other living thing. The concept brought my thoughts to Romans 11:17b (NIV) and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,…
A few days ago I was dead-heading my flowers on my balcony. I tugged a bit too hard and pulled a whole long piece off with other flowers attached. I did apologize to the plant. I then popped the broken off end back into the dirt thinking it just might regrow itself. At the time I had not considered the fact that it had absolutely no roots and that it was now dead. It need something other than just dirt for it to grow. It needed to be rooted in something alive. Did I already say that I am not a gardener? One day later it all seemed well and I thought I may have given life back to my flower. But a few days later the whole shoot was brown and … dead. It had no chance to live as it was not connected to a source of life.
I pondered again: The grafted plant stayed alive because it was connected to a source of life. The branch I poked into the dirt had no way to receive what it needed for life and so it died.
As I journaled about this I began to ask myself how I was abiding in Christ. Was I grafted in and taped together, or was I trying to figure things you by connecting, with no roots, into soil that could not sustain me as I am? Help me Lord to realize sooner when I have separated from you. Help me to abide in you who is the real source of life.
What non-life-giving sources are you connecting into?
What do you notice happens when you do not abide in God?
Lord, I know that I all too often seek to be nourished by things that are not good for me. Things that do not give me life. Help me to remember to stay connected to you, abiding in your gifts of love, grace and mercy. Thank you Abba for taking that tape and wrapping it around me until I am solidly connected with you once again. Thank you for not just letting me stay in that dirt without roots, on the verge of imminent death. You are my life-line, my all. With thankfulness for Jesus who is my connection to you and who has brought me life. Amen”
A few days ago I was dead-heading my flowers on my balcony. I tugged a bit too hard and pulled a whole long piece off with other flowers attached. I did apologize to the plant. I then popped the broken off end back into the dirt thinking it just might regrow itself. At the time I had not considered the fact that it had absolutely no roots and that it was now dead. It need something other than just dirt for it to grow. It needed to be rooted in something alive. Did I already say that I am not a gardener? One day later it all seemed well and I thought I may have given life back to my flower. But a few days later the whole shoot was brown and … dead. It had no chance to live as it was not connected to a source of life.
I pondered again: The grafted plant stayed alive because it was connected to a source of life. The branch I poked into the dirt had no way to receive what it needed for life and so it died.
As I journaled about this I began to ask myself how I was abiding in Christ. Was I grafted in and taped together, or was I trying to figure things you by connecting, with no roots, into soil that could not sustain me as I am? Help me Lord to realize sooner when I have separated from you. Help me to abide in you who is the real source of life.
What non-life-giving sources are you connecting into?
What do you notice happens when you do not abide in God?
Lord, I know that I all too often seek to be nourished by things that are not good for me. Things that do not give me life. Help me to remember to stay connected to you, abiding in your gifts of love, grace and mercy. Thank you Abba for taking that tape and wrapping it around me until I am solidly connected with you once again. Thank you for not just letting me stay in that dirt without roots, on the verge of imminent death. You are my life-line, my all. With thankfulness for Jesus who is my connection to you and who has brought me life. Amen”
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