This week’s Gospel is taken from John 15: 1-8. It is a verse that is very familiar to many people,one that we have sung in many of our hymns. Jesus said to his disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit because, without me, you can do nothing.” He goes on to say that God removes every branch that does not bear fruit. He prunes the ones that do, and we are already pruned because we believe His word.

I love the concept that we grow from Jesus Christ. We are part of Jesus, we grow from Jesus, and both the vine and the branches need each other to flourish. And Jesus also said, “…my Father is the vine grower.” So, God tends to all of us, seeing that we bear much fruit. But this makes me wonder. If this is truly a symbiotic relationship, what is our part? What do we give back to the vine in return? What do we give to Jesus in return for all that he does for us? All that he really asks is that we stay with Him.

Reflecting on this reading, I ask myself what has Jesus done in my life to help me bear fruit, and what have I done in return. It becomes abundantly clear how blessed I have been. I have had a 37-year teaching career, in the same school, that I love to this day. It hasn’t always been easy, but I keep going back, year after year. This year of the pandemic has truly been a challenge, probably the hardest teaching year I have ever had. Every day is met with new issues and new problems. It is very, very easy to become discouraged and hopeless. However, I know that I will make it through and that Jesus is traveling along with me. It is so nice to know I don’t have to do it alone. And in these 3+ decades, I have made hundreds of special connections with my students who, for the most part, remember me fondly and many keep in touch. I can tell when I have influenced my students because they influence me every day. We, too, have a symbiotic relationship, and I know that this just doesn’t happen by coincidence. “God is the vine grower.”

I also have a family that I love, one that includes my first grandchild who is 5 months old today. I used to fear that I wouldn’t see that day because I battled cancer, but that was a blessing from God as well, since it occurred seventeen years ago. Even when facing those bleak days of surgery and treatment, when I struggled to find God’s blessing because I was staring my own mortality in the face, I knew it was there and that I wasn’t alone. It just didn’t feel that way at the time, as I had two young children who were 11 and 3 years old. But when I step back and reflect on that time, or on my life as a whole, it is extremely clear. Blessings come every day. We just have to stop and recognize them.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit because, without me, you can do nothing.” This emphasizes the importance of Jesus in our lives, as we cannot do anything without Him. This relationship seems lopsided because He seems to give so much more than He asks. What a comfort it is to know that we don’t have to bear the burdens of life alone because Jesus is always with us; all we have to do is remain with Him.