We continued with our reflections based on the scripture passage, John 15:1-15 and its theme, Abiding in the Vine. We invite you to join us in first meditating and digesting this passage slowly using lectio divina and then read the reflection. Our writers will share a testimony of how this scripture has impacted their lives personally.
For those new to our community, lectio divina is a traditional monastic practice of engaging with Scripture not just for intellectual understanding but to allow the Word of God to speak to the heart and transform our lives. It involves prayerfully reading the scripture four times, pausing to notice the following:
- Read the verse and listen for the word or phrase that the Holy Spirit highlights for you.
- Read the verse and ask the question, how is my life touched by this word? What in my life needs to hear this word?
- Read the verse and ask what is my response to God because of what I have read and encountered? What am I feeling, talk to God about it, listen to Him, feel His uninterrupted love and attention toward you and follow His lead in any way He is prompting you to respond.
- Read and rest in the Word and resolve to live it out.
Listen:
“Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” (John 15:6)
Reflect:
I don’t seem to have much patience when it comes to gardening. To be honest, I haven’t really put in the time to learn about fruitful gardening techniques and tips that would make a garden thrive… which is a shame since the previous owners of my house were skilled gardeners and landscaped the property beautifully. I am simply grateful for bushes and perennials that bloom every spring without my effort or care, and with a veneer of confidence, I boldly prune what isn’t green.
Like a skillful and loving gardener, I am grateful that God knows what is not connected to growth and, in his mercy prunes and throws away what is preventing me from flourishing. Unlike my pruning that cuts at the obvious, the Gardener, in loving kindness, intimately goes after what matters most.
I am grateful that the Holy Spirit planted a seed within me that has grown. Sometimes I think I know what would be helpful for spiritual growth, but instead of growth, I get caught up in a gimmick that doesn’t produce fruit or worse, contributes to a deadening of my very being. Abiding in Jesus is a discipline of prayer and receiving from Jesus. We don’t stumble onto it accidentally, but by practicing it regularly. The ancient contemplative prayer practices introduced to me through Lifesprings have been life-giving in keeping me intimately connected to The Vine. Simple. Consistent. Intentional. Having a Rule of Life helps to keep me aware of the dead branches that I hold on to that need be thrown away. My loving gardener nurtures me to grow.
Prayer of Response:
Creator God, you are the tender gardener who delights in nurturing your creation and seeing your creation flourish. Help me to abide in prayer so I may abide in you. Amen.
Questions to Ponder:
- What habits or activities are stagnating my spiritual growth?
- What things in my life are now dead branches that need to be thrown away?
- What is my loving gardener doing to nurture growth in me today?
Breath Prayers:
Inhale(Breathe in): Abide in me.
Exhale(Breathe out): So I may live. (Repeat)
—Submitted by: Christa Eisbrenner
Christa has been a Lifesprings groupie since the first retreat in Lyon, France in 2007. She credits Lifesprings for shaping her personal spiritual growth and the way she leads not only in Lifesprings on LET and as the leader of Lifesprings Canada, but also how she leads as a priest of two small Anglican churches in Canada.