Abide with me

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. " John 15:1-7

Last night the Young Adult group gathered at my house. After the ice cream sundaes we had a fantastic discussion (seriously almost 2 hours) and as we were ending, one of the group read John 15. For most of the group, the image of the vine being pruned stood out. What hit me were the words "abide in me".

The last week has been a week of introspection. I've been contemplating relationships, my job, where I put God in life, my successes and failures and so much more. At the beginning of the week, I met with someone who has been acting as a kind of spiritual director in my life and he asked a series of questions that brought me to the edge of tears. I spoke aloud words that I've hidden pretty deeply inside and know that they are just the top layer of stuff that needs to be worked through. It's been that kind of a week. In the midst of it I've felt pretty alone too. Admittedly, part of that is my own doing but not all. And then the words last night "abide with me".

God's been on the back-burner of life lately. I've been going through the motions, been putting a lot of energy into other places and haven't given God much nor have I allowed God to give me much. I don't like myself when that happens. I don't like the me that appears when God gets too little.

Abide with me...I'm pretty sure that in the midst of a group of people, who have become a bright spot in life, God did a little talking last night.