Tendrils of the vine

This vine in my backyard has become my teacher.  It’s a passion flower vine with a beautiful purple blossom, yet it’s the way its tendrils reach out that has me intrigued.  Like human arms, these thin, green strands extend toward the nearest slat of the fence, illustrating a treasured lesson of faith.  My husband crisscrossed some string at the corner of the yard to serve as a trellis, and with remarkable grasp, these tendrils have spun around it fast and snug.  Seeming to travel whole inches in a day, they’ve caused me to wonder, “If I stared for an hour, would I witness the tendrils actually in motion?”  Then too, their strength intrigues me, for when heavy rain poured a few weeks ago, this vine didn’t budge.  Not one tendril unleashed from any string or any slat of the fence, and quickly I questioned, “What if I clung to the Lord like these tendrils cling?  What if I held so closely to the Lord that no storm, no temptation of any size could set me asunder?”  In John 15:5, Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  I’m reminded of limitless spiritual opportunity that comes with clinging to the Lord.  He is our absolute sustenance.  Again this morning I eagerly visited our vine, noticing many buds soon to blossom.  Yet it’s the tenacity of the tendrils that sets the array of these purple beauties.