

Monday, August 5, 2019

Yesterday, I watched a titmouse eating a persimmon fruit. Suddenly the fruit came detached from the branch. Imagine his delight! That is until he tried to fly away! The fruit was much too big for him to carry and eventually he had to let it fall to the ground.

This got me thinking about the fruit and the vine. The obvious analogy is that we need to stay connected to Jesus in order to produce fruit and flourish. 

After watching Mr (or Mrs?) Titmouse I think the further lesson is that we need to hold our blessings, our gifts, the fruit that God gives us in this life, close to the Vine, too.

Too often we receive these things with joy and then forget Who gave them in the first place. We move them into the "this is mine" pile. As you may have discovered, things held too tightly become blackened and bruised.

Allowing God to hold our blessings gives us the freedom to enjoy them with both hands!