October 27, 2018

For the first time in my adult life, I am not working at all. I'd cut back on work the past year, but when I received the stage 4 cancer diagnosis in August, we knew it was time to totally step away. That has been an adjustment - not as much as it would have been earlier in my life, but still, we can measure our “value” by what we do. 

Our economy versus God's economy - there is no comparison. The way we measure productivity and the way He does, are nothing alike. 

I was reading a book that discussed how we measure whether we have wasted time by what we can show for our time - a report complete at work, a clean house, a finished craft - SOMETHING that we can check off the “list” to show that we are good stewards of time. But it went on to say that the most important use of our time is hard to measure - the time that we spend with God. And not the time that we spend telling Him about our problems and ASKING Him for things, but the time that we spend ABIDING in Him and worshipping Him, just because of who He is. That really caught my attention. 

Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches. We can so easily forget that. We can get confused and think that WE are the source of our strength. We forget that to God, the most important thing is that we are bearing fruit and we can only do that if we are CONNECTED to Him. Pruning may come, but it is to make us more able to bear fruit. It’s not a punishment. We can so easily think that we don’t have time in our busy schedules to connect with God, that a quick “I need you” as we run around will suffice - but that is SO backwards! If we will make the effort to continually stay connected to Him, He will give us the strength, the wisdom and the patience to bear the fruit that He desires, even when the days are hard. 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:1-7 (NIV)