Twelve Days of Christmas Reflections - Day 11

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." John 15:1-4

Today I'm still on Jesus' very long speech to the disciples before His arrest. Jesus says that He is the True Vine and that we are the branches. We cannot bear fruit without Him. How easily we forget this! I have been struggling with this all week. I have felt overwhelmed by what needs to get done at work and home and have been rather irritable. Then it hit me last night that I had been trying to do everything on my own. I was so busy thinking of everything that I needed to do that I forgot to include Jesus! Of course Jesus never left, He was just waiting to be asked to help me bear fruit. This isn't the first, or last, time this has happened, but cutting myself off from the vine is painful. I get crushed by all the things on my "To-do List" and forget that I can't bear fruit if I don't take the time to pray and ask Jesus to help. 

I have found over and over again in my ministry that the most successful events are not the ones I am most prepared and organized for, with everything done according to schedule. The most meaningful classes, programs or events are the ones I pray about, asking Jesus to bless those working/leading and attending the program. Usually these prayers are more about my lack of preparedness than anything. I don’t want my failure to be organized or get something done to prevent someone from encountering Jesus. And Jesus answers my prayers in ways I could never have imagined! This of course does not mean that I can leave everything to chance and let Jesus step in at the last minute, but I do need to stay close to Jesus and invite him before and during any task. Imagine how much better our lives would be if we remembered to remain in the vine, close to Jesus, in all we do!