Staying Connected 

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in
him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

It was a wonderful snowy day; just windy. You could hear that wind
whistling through the trees. The thin, spindly tree that I could see
oustside the living room window was being seriously blown about. All the
leaves were gone from the tree, save for a tiny reddish-brown one at the
very top of the tree. It clung tenaciously as the wind whipped it.

The little leaf was enduring the hardship of a mountain winter. Spring
would soon arrive and the tree would bud and fill with new leaves. It
looked like the little leaf would make it. It would survive and enjoy the
new spring and lazy summer before autumn and another winter would come.

Winter storms come into all of our lives. If you haven't experienced one,
you surely will. Sometimes our personal winters cause us to abandon or
turn our backs on whatever (or whomever) we're connected to.

When we suffer the pain of divorce, miscarriage, job loss, or any number
of things that come our way in life's journey, there are times when we
don't feel like hanging on. It simply seems too hard.

In the bible, in the book of John, Jesus tells us He is the vine (tree)
and we are branches. If we stay connected to the tree, we can weather any
storm. That's a hope we can hold onto and a promise we can claim. Staying
connected will never get any better than that.

Contributed by Sally I. Kennedy