17 Nov Fallen

There is a “grove” of massive pecan trees on our old property. They give lovely shade in the summer and produce a harvest every other fall. They look so strong.

But they tend to snap off large branches in unpredictable ways. We’ve had a car crushed; a building disfigured; a fence maimed; landscaping wiped out. We have trained our kids to run, run as fast as they can, if they hear strange popping sounds because that means something might be coming down. And one of those would be deadly.

Recently, I came home to find a gigantic heavy limb stretched across my driveway. After the initial surprise, I felt the old rush of aggravation over the big fat jumble left to deal with.

Fallen. Fallen branches bring so much mess and headache and they’re useless. Separated, they can’t produce shade or harvest anymore, only fuel for a bonfire now.

When we are separated from God we are like a snapped limb, disconnected from the tree. Only a mess remains.

We do live in a fallen world, where danger and evil and death are realities. That all got started at a tree. We live everyday under the shadow of disconnect and the consequence of broken.

“We can’t offer shade or harvest when we are not connected to Him.”

We, too, are fallen, a broken, jumbled-up wreckage when we seek autonomy from the source of Life. We can’t offer shade or harvest when we are not connected to Him. We can’t really live, only exist.

Yet, unlike my pecan trees, we have the hope of redemption, of a miracle. Of finding connection through a sacrifice made on another tree, the Cross where Jesus died to carry all my brokenness and allows for the connection I need to Live.

When we are connected to Him, we are free to grow and do what we were created to do. We benefit from His strength. And because of that, there are times when He prunes us back, cutting off anything that is stealing Life, halting growth or robbing purpose. Because He loves us, He takes care. But the connection is always worth the pruning.

Are you connected to the one who gives Life?

“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. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.” John 15:5-6

“My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” John 15:1-2

– Kristi Carden, Pelham