"I am the vine, ye are the branches."--John 15:5
"Tis
only a little Branch,
A thing so fragile and weak,
But that little Branch
hath a message true
To give, could it only speak.
"I'm only a little
Branch,
I live by a life not mine,
For the sap that flows through my
tendrils small
Is the life-blood of the Vine.
"No power indeed have
I
The fruit of myself to bear,
But since I'm part of the living
Vine,
Its fruitfulness I share.
"Dost thou ask how I abide?
How
this life I can maintain?--
I am bound to the Vine by life's strong
band,
And I only need remain.
"Where first my life was given,
In
the spot where I am set,
Upborne and upheld as the days go by,
By the stem
which bears me yet.
"I fear not the days to come,
I dwell not upon the
past,
As moment by moment I draw a life,
Which for evermore shall
last.
"I bask in the sun's bright beams,
Which with sweetness fills my
fruit,
Yet I own not the clusters hanging there,
For they all come from
the root."
A life which is not my own,
But another's life in
me:
This, this is the message the Branch would speak,
A message to thee
and me.
Oh, struggle not to "abide,"
Nor labor to "bring forth
fruit,"
But let Jesus unite thee to Himself,
As the Vine Branch to the
root.
So simple, so deep, so strong
That union with Him shall
be:
His life shall forever replace thine own,
And His love shall flow
through thee.
For His Spirit's fruit is love,
And love shall thy life
become,
And for evermore on His heart of love
Thy spirit shall have her
home.
at Calvin College. Last updated on May 27, 1999. Contacting the CCEL. |