Drawing Strength From The Vine

By Anabel Gillham

…we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

II Corinthians 3:18

It was one of my favorite nature study science lessons, and I always had as much fun as my fifth grade kids did watching what happened. It was, of necessity, a springtime experiment because that was when the daffodils appeared to announce with golden voices that winter was pretty well over and spring was on its way.

Several of the kids would bring daffodils from their yard (I think Glenn usually ‘found’ one in the neighbor’s yard, but I never scolded him or embarrassed him. He had a rough time at the house he called ‘home’). We would all get out our Gerber baby food jars, fill them about 2/3 full of water and then add some cake coloring to that water, using several different colors in the jars to see which one we would like the best. Then we would place a flower in each jar and watch enthralled as it thirstily ‘drank’ the colored water and the elaborate map of its tiny veins began to be evident as it took the color from the jar.

That’s a wonderful object lesson in teaching about Jesus being the vine and how we branches draw our strength from Him and actually begin to look like Him-like one of His children. And we begin to act like Him, as we allow Him to be our strength, our life, our beautiful color-as He flows through the myriad tiny veins.

The Greeks came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” I think there are multitudes of hurting, curious people saying the same thing today. They watch us and how we operate in our world with our circumstances and they are watching to see if Jesus appears. Too often we act just like they do and they see nothing in our life that would make them feel the necessity to have Jesus to be a part of their world. They don’t relate.

But if we have our “feet in the water” and are “drinking thirstily” they are going to see myriad things that will tell them, “Their strength doesn’t come from themselves. Look, what’s happening! They ‘look like’ Jesus!”