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.
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