transplanted

I could probably share how even though this is "my" culture that I have come "home" to that it feels different or off somehow...as if I have been transplanted into a space not quite my own. Instead, I want to share some thoughts the Spirit whispered to me last week when I had some unexpected quiet/alone time during the crazy loveliness of Amy's wedding week.

John 15:1-8
"I am the Vine"
"My Father is the Gardener"
"Remain"
"I am the Vine, you are the branches"

When a surgeon is transplanting an organ, it is a very time-consuming, nerve-wracking, intricate and intimate process. The surgeon knows every bit of that organ as he/she painstakingly stitches each part of the transplanted organ into place...nerves, muscle, blood vessels. Then, he/she watches as the clamps are released and blood flows in to infuse the organ with life! But, it doesn't stop there. he/she watches over the patient (or transplanted organ) regularly...checking labs and getting x-rays or sonos and then tweaking this or that. The same goes for the gardener who has grafted a branch to a vine. Extra care is given to this branch, making sure it is getting just enough sun, just enough water, enough room to grow, enough. The grafted branches or transplanted organs are not left on their own to hopefully "take" and grow...they are lovingly watched over and cared for by the "transplantor".

We are branches grafted in to the Vine...when it seems dark and lonely and we wonder if we will survive, we are not on our own but being lovingly cared for by the Gardener. We are transplants into the family. He is watching over us, not leaving us to wander through this life on our own and trying to make ourselves into His image...NO! He is remaking us, reworking us...He has called us away to a new life but continues to work it out in us.

just some thoughts.