I cannot recall a time in my life when I didn’t love flowers. Any flower. My paternal grandmother had a yard full of flowers. Some were “starts” she had received from friends. Others were wildflowers my Pappy had dug up and brought home. Still others were started from seed or gifts from friends. The only time flowers did not bloom in her garden was the dead of winter. But even then, bushes and vines had bright berries that attracted various birds. 

Happy days on our farm were those that I would roam the fields for wildflowers…violets…Queen Anne’s Lace…wild sunflowers…Molly Pops…Mimosa…and on and on. Armloads of flowers. Quart jar vases lined the porch or picnic table out under Mama Kate’s trees. I just couldn’t get enough of their beauty. The extravagance of their beauty was overwhelming to me.

At the river in summer, a beautiful vine with lovely periwinkle/lavender blossoms grew. It looked like an exotic orchid to my eyes. They still grow there. On our summer walks I see them in profusion. They grow in ditches and up red dirt banks. Though they look so delicate, they thrive in the blazing South Carolina sun. How I have coveted those blooms.

But…it seems the blossoms that can thrive in 100-degree summer sun cannot live but a few seconds apart from the vine. 

As a little girl, I’d pick that gorgeous flower and it would not last until I got to the house. Within moments, it would shrivel up and die. I couldn’t stand it. Nothing I tried would save that blossom. To own that flower, it had to grow in your garden. And it certainly could not be picked from the vine.

I can’t tell you how often I think of this in the summer. When we are walking those roads and see these vines of gorgeous periwinkle/lavender flowers, I don’t dare pick them. It is sure destruction for them.

It is just another sweet lesson from our Abba God. The Word says we are grafted into the true vine, Christ Jesus. Grafted to the branch we receive nourishment from Him. He is able to sustain us as long as we remain in Him. However, when we remove ourselves from the True Vine, what happens? We are no longer nourished. We begin to wither and die spiritually. We have no life apart from Him. Just like that beautiful wildflower.

Sometimes these lessons and reminders seem so obvious. Yet, it is the most elementary and basic principles we often neglect or even forget.

In these hard days of unbelief, let’s stay grafted into the One who loves and sustains us.

Much love. Many prayers.❤️