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 A Grafted Branch
Avocado trees cannot thrive on their own root structure. The tree grows very large, and the weight of the branches and fruit are great. But the root structure remains small and frail, and the tree falls over. Avocado trees must be grafted onto the stump of a strong tree with a sturdy root structure, like an orange tree. Then they can grow and thrive, and withstand life, because of the strength of the roots beneath them.
Lately I've been thinking about the frailty of the human spirit. Humans may develop complex lives, and carry many responsibilities. Humans may have children, do good things. and work hard at a vast variety of occupations. But they are all rootless without salvation. If they are not saved; if they are not grafted to God, and a stiff wind, a great trial comes along, they can fall. And there will be nothing for them to hold onto for long. No one to help pull them out, and comfort them.
They may go searching for other humans to help, but there can be no permanent comfort or strength in other humans. For all humans are frail. No human can hold another up all the time. So they may go searching for comfort in a bottle, or in a pill, but that comfort is short lived. There is always the next day to face. These things are like band-aids on a deep gash. They fall off, and the wound is open again. There are no human measures to heal a wounded spirit. No counselor, no medications. Only God can fully and truly heal a wounded soul.
When a person is saved, that person is grafted to God for the rest of their lives. When we accept Christ as our Saviour, He binds us to Him with an everlasting love, and an never-ending strength. His spiritual gifts begin to flow through us, nurturing us, and comforting us. His love is forever. He never leaves us. There can be no greater root structure for our lives, our spirits, our minds, our souls. There can be no greater power to keep us, and guide us through the trials of life. If a Christian is hit by a stiff wind of life - a great trial such as a great disappointment, a death, the loss of a job, the loss of a home, a terminal illness, or a divorce, they may also fall. But there are mighty arms around them, and an endless strength and love to draw from, in their Heavenly Father.
God will grasp His child's helpless, reaching hand, and help them up, and comfort them. He can always be depended on to keep too many branches from breaking off, and too much fruit from falling when those hard winds come. If He allows a branch to break, it will be for a reason. He will grow a new one by and by, or graft on a new one. After a tragedy, long, slow years of developing new fruit may take place. Fruit of the spirit - perhaps kinds that never grew before. Sweeter, larger, richer fruit.
* That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love. Eph 3:17
People have called me strong, for raising so many children. But I have no strength without God. All the strength I have ever had, has been directly from God. I am as frail and helpless as anyone else, without His help. They have also jokingly said I must be either a saint or insane! I have laughed, and told them that no, I am neither. Just a regular mother, who happens to have a big family. That all my strength comes from God.
* Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Col 2:7
I am eternally grateful that God had me born into a Christian family, where I was taught of Him from babyhood. My ship, so to speak, would have sunk long ago, had it not been that the hull was crafted, and made seaworthy by my Heavenly Father. I have weathered many storms because of this. The Bible verses I was required to memorize all during my childhood, was far more of a blessing than I ever realized at the time. All my life, those verses have come back to me, in times of trial, in times of joy, and in times of searching for God's will.
The hymns I learned from my parents, in Christian school, and in church, spoke to my spirit even more, when I was a child. I would swing in the back yard, and sing them to God, looking up at the sky. The words to those hundreds of hymns lilt through my mind at just the right time, over and over. I am certain that God speaks to me through the words of hymns. There is a reason for the Bible saying we are to sing hymns and spiritual songs. The music touches a different part of the brain, and makes the words stay all the firmer. Bible verses and hymns make the roots grow ever deeper, and the grafted branch grows ever stronger.
Beginning at four years old, I remember kneeling between my father and mother at the couch, for prayer, after family worship. From them, I learned to truly talk to God. That teaching of Jesus, was ongoing from both of my parents, all my life, until I grew up and left home. And all through the years, they remained the wisest counselors of all. My mother still is. I could go to them with any spiritual question, and they did not try to tell me what to do. They spoke of what God had done in their lives. Many times, from their wisdom, and the many Bible verses they would quote me, I discerned what God's will was.
When my father was in his eighties, he had a terrible stroke. He never walked again, was nearly completely blind, and could not use his right hand any more. In time, he regained a little speech. But he was rooted and grounded in his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He spoke of Jesus, and Heaven, even when he could not remember his own wife. He knew where he was going. He never lost his ability to sing a few hymns, and play, with his one remaining good hand, many, many hymns on his harmonica. God's words through music stayed with him until he entered the presence of Christ Jesus in Heaven.
My father was a grafted branch remaining strong, and bearing fruit all of his life. Even in the nursing home, where he did not know anyone, he witnessed for the Lord, by bringing joy to others. His heart was still full of sweetness and gentleness. He played hymns, was polite and thankful to the nurses, and tenderly patted the backs of anyone who was crying or ill. Many people who worked there mentioned what a unique and encouraging patient he was. I don't know if he knew it or not, but God was using him for His glory even until the end of his earthly life.
* If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard ... the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, will be made manifest to His children; that of the riches of the glory of this mystery; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col 1:23a, 26,27
2005 Rosemary Gwaltney
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