There’s some thing about being out in the morning after a heavy rain. It stormed here bad last night, with big rain and wind. But this morning at the refuge the sun is out, the birds are chirping, and the flowers are blooming. The air smells fresh and if you didn’t know it you might be hard-pressed to tell it even rained. Just a few hours after the fact nature has moved on.
There is a sign though, and it’s all over the roads. Underneath the canopy of trees the road is littered with leaves. Here in there there are a few small branches, nothing major, but the leaves are everywhere. The wind blew hard enough that it shook the leaves off of the trees. It’s easier to see on the roads because there is no grass, but really it happened everywhere.
It struck me as I drove around them and through them how easy it is to be removed from the tree. A little storm, not even a big one, and the leaves come flying off. Now that they are no longer attached to the branch they have no life. It made me think of the Christian life too. Jesus says that he is the vine and we are the branch. But sometimes it doesn’t take much of a storm for us to be knocked out of relationship with God.
Without our connection to the vine, we are useless, just like a leaf's connection to the branch. Our connection to Christ is what gives us life, power, grace, and mercy. Without the connection we are as useless as a pile of autumn leaves. Or in this case, as useless as a pile of spring leaves knocked off by the winds.
That’s not to say it’s always easy to hold on to Christ. If our connection is not very strong, then even a few little storms will knock us down. But all of us have experienced the tragedy and heartbreak we could call the giant storms of life. The kind of storms that uproot trees and tear off branches. Strong winds are powerful enough not just to move trees, but houses and other things too.
But our connection to Christ is different. No matter how strong a storm comes, we will be able to endure. We cannot avoid the storms of life, but we can make sure that our connection to Christ is as strong as it can be. That means being in the word, being in church fellowship, spending time in prayer and conversation with him. The little storms will come and we will be able to hold on. but what about the giant epic storms?
We find out in those moments that it’s not about how strongly we hold onto Christ, but how strongly Christ is holding onto us. Praise God for his mercy, and stay connected to Christ today. The storms will come but if you are secure in him you will endure.
