The Vine from which We Spring

We think of ourselves as independent human beings. We live our own lives, we think our own thoughts. Unlike the plants which root in the earth or the branches attached to the vine we are not physically attached to anything. We move freely. We can go wherever we please.

In our independence it is at times easy to miss that, just as the plants are connected to everything around them; the branches to the vine or the trunk, the whole plant to the soil, the rain, the sun and the care that we give to it – so are we.

Through the food that we eat, the air that we breathe, the sun that is vital to our lives, through the people we love and whose lives we share, we are connected to everything and everything is connected to us. We are not just single human beings, we are part of a great picture. We are interconnected.

This is true also for our spiritual life. Just as the sun stands in the centre of the interconnectedness of all earthly things, giving life, warmth and form, so the spiritual sun – Christ – stands at the centre of our souls. He is the great Uniter, the vine from which we spring, the flowing life that gives us strength, purpose, growth and renewal.

“May thus my own set walls relax their tension
So that your Being may in mine reside,
And my own Being enter your dimension –
That Being, thus, with Being may unite.”

~Christian Morgenstern~

This contemplation by Rev. Contreras is inspired by John 15 – “I Am the True Vine”