Staying Connected

It was a wonderful snowy day. You could hear that wind whistling, and
the lone, spindly tree just oustside the living room window was being
seriously blown about. All the leaves were gone from this tree except a
single tiny reddish-brown one connected near the top. It clung
tenaciously as the wind whipped it about.

The little leaf was enduring the hardship of a mountain winter. Spring
would soon arrive and the tree would bud and fill with new leaves. It
looked like the little leaf would make it. It would survive and enjoy
the new spring and lazy summer before autumn and another winter would
come.

Winter storms come into all of our lives, even when it�s not winter.  If
you haven�t experienced one, you surely will. Sometimes our personal
winters cause us to abandon or turn our backs on whatever, or whomever,
we are connected .  

When we suffer the pain of divorce, job loss, miscarriage, or any number
of things that come our way in life�s journey, there are times when we
don�t feel like hanging on.  It simply seems too hard.

In the Bible, book of John,  Jesus tells us He is the vine (tree) and we
are branches. If we stay connected to the tree, we can weather any
storm. That�s a hope we can hold onto, and a promise we can claim. That
is good news!