I Am the Vine

This last weekend I spent time trimming our trees which line the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street next to our house.  There was so much to trim that I could only fit a small portion of the cut branches in the trash can, and I threw the remainder over the fence into the corner of the yard for the time being.  Yesterday, two days after cutting them, I sat in our basement office and looked out the window directly at the large pile of tree limbs.  Directly above them just behind the fence I could see the top of one of the large trees that they came from, and the contrast between the branches in the pile and those on the actual tree was stunning.  The leaves attached to the branches on the ground were withered and dried and turning brown, whereas those on the tree were green and clearly thriving.  I was surprised at how quickly those cut branches died.  Even though lying on the grass there they were exposed to the same sunlight and sprinkler water as the tree on the other side of the fence, they were dead and crinkled up. 

Looking at these branches, I couldn’t help but think about Christ’s teachings in John 15.  He told His disciples on that night of the Last Supper, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (v4-6).  Without the Savior’s help in our lives, we are as those withered branches on the ground, unable to overcome the great challenges caused by mortality and sin and the Fall of man.  We must not figuratively cut ourselves off from the Tree.  He is the source of our strength and the only arm on which we can rely to successfully navigate our difficulties in life.  It is easy when life seems comfortable to forget Him who “has created [us], and has kept and preserved [us]… and is preserving [us] from day to day, by lending [us] breath, that [we] may live and move and do according to [our] own will, and even supporting [us] from one moment to another” (Mosiah 2:20-21).  But we must not forget where our strength comes from—we covenant each week in the Sacrament that we will not. 
I’m reminded of the poem by William Ernest Henley called Invictus.  In it he wrote these famous lines, “It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”  Surely there is some truth to that in terms of our agency and need to choose, but I prefer the response of Elder Orson F. Whitney who wrote this:

Art thou in truth? Then what of him
Who bought thee with his blood?
Who plunged into devouring seas
And snatched thee from the flood?
Free will is thine—free agency,
To wield for right or wrong;
But thou must answer unto him
To whom all souls belong.
Bend to the dust that head “unbowed,”
Small part of life’s great whole!
And see in him, and him alone,
The Captain of thy soul.

We have our agency for sure, but it is Christ who is indeed the Captain of our soul.  He is the “true vine” and we must “abide” in Him if we want the abundant life He offers.  

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