MUSIC BLOG 05-29-2025
MUSIC BLOG
05/29/2025
ABIDE IN ME
The True Vine
15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [a]takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Most of us have things that we are passionate about! These things usually fall into the categories of Job, family, church, or hobbies. My grandmother had a passion for sewing and needlework. You might argue that this interest was instilled in her by her mother, as it was the expected behavior of proper young ladies at the turn of the century in America. For my Grannie, it may have indeed started there, but her love for needlework went far beyond that simple explanation. There was a time in her life when she suffered from severe bursitis. It was so severe that treatments required her to be placed in a machine that held her tightly and jolted her percussively so that the calcium deposits in her shoulder would be broken up. She also, at the same time, suffered from crippling rheumatoid arthritis in her fingers and in her hands. Doctors had previously told her she would never walk again because of the back surgery she had in the 1950’s but she proved them wrong. Now, once again, her doctor told her there was little hope for her ever sewing, knitting, or crocheting again. She set out to prove them wrong. For more than a year, she suffered through a series of home therapies prescribed by her doctor and built by my grandfather. One of which was a pulley attached to the ceiling in her laundry room. She would go daily to the pulley and rope and hold onto the rope with her bad hand and shoulder that had frozen and pulled on the rope with her remaining hand, forcing the shoulder into action. This therapy was incredibly painful. I can attest to that as I saw her on more than one occasion pulling her arm up with tears streaming down her face, and yet she persevered.
Another treatment she did was a paraffin wax glove treatment. Her fingers were so gnarled and swollen that she couldn’t move them. She had a pot of wax on the back burner of her stove, which she would melt down several times a day and begin a process of building was glove from the hot wax. She dipped her hands in the hot was and held them in until she couldn’t stand it anymore. Then she would lift her hand for a second or so to cool and plunge it back into the wax. She followed this treatment with ice baths for her hands. After this treatment, she would work each finger and each joint until there was some freedom of movement. Then she would go and crochet. Her determination to not be a cripple made a lasting impression on me. She lived until she was in her nineties and was able to use her hands until she passed away. Needlework was her motivation for recovery. It inspired her to work through whatever pain she had.
She abided in the Lord. She knew that she could do nothing without Him, but that with Him she could do what He wanted her to do each day. Following God sometimes feels like a mystery. That’s why God gave us His Word. We can look at the lives of men God used to see how God will interact with us.
God, first of all, gets our attention. Abraham saw a ram in a thicket, Moses saw a burning bush, Isaiah saw the LORD high and lifted up, Jeremiah saw a potter, and Saul saw a bright light. Sometimes God gives us a painful situation to get our attention. Something that draws us away from our normal routine. Most of us squander God showering he attention on us. We get angry, or we turn from God. We usually try to fix it on our own. Moses turned to gaze at the sight. Abraham realized it was God intervening to save Isaac. Isaiah saw it as a calling to serve the LORD, and Saul was transformed to Paul. God revealing Himself to us is our invitation to join Him.
What do you have going on? What pain or puzzle, or trial is nagging at you? Consider for a moment that God is not wrong for allowing this, but that maybe He has something more for you to consider. God is always a work around us. He might just be waiting for you to respond correctly and join Him. Go and sit with God until He shows you what He’s up to.
Blessings,
Marty