Julie Lavender

GUEST BLOGGER

My guest blogger today is Stephanie Pavlantos. I first met Stephanie in person at a writer's conference, and we 'friended' each other via the usual social media outlets. Then we were blessed to spend more time together at another writer's conference just recently. 

Her brief tagline describes her this way: "writer, author, biologist, lover of God's Word, Bible-study leader." But, spending time with her let me realize that it would take paragraphs to give an accurate 'tagline' of her love of God, His word, and her precious family. 

Please enjoy her post below, then visit her website at www.stephaniepavlantos.com to find more of her thoughts and inspiration. (You'll especially love some of her breathtaking photos of the Canadian Rockies on a recent trip to Jasper, Canada.)

  THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES 

   By Stephanie Pavlantos 

Do you have a green thumb? I love beautiful gardens and flowers but I don’t have what it takes to be a master gardener. You gotta love having your hands in the dirt, working in the hot sun and never having clean nails. Although, I guess I could wear gloves, if I could only find them. Usually my dogs find them before I do…

Getting something to live a month, a week or even a few days can be challenging. Master gardeners must have more than plant knowledge. Did you know they must also understand bugs, parasites, and plant diseases? They need to know where to plant a tree, the quantity of sunlight needed for them to thrive and the plants best suited to an area. Having the green thumb of a master gardener takes more than knowing a plant needs sunlight and water.

Then there are fruit trees. As you have probably already guessed there is more to them than picking an apple off a tree; turns out bugs, worms, and bees love apples, too. One summer, I found out how much my goats love apple tree leaves. We had to get a new tree because goats have remarkably long tongues….

Ah, but I digress.

THE MASTER GARDENER

In John 15, the Bible tells us we have a Master Gardener. He knows when and how to prune a tree, where to plant it so it will thrive, and how to stop infestations of the worse kind. Jesus tells us He is the vine and we are His branches. Any good gardener wants branches loaded with fruit.

That's the way it is in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said as long as we abide in Him and He abides in us, we will bear fruit. The English Standard Version of the Bible defines abide as "to continue in a daily personal relationship with Jesus, characterized by trust, prayer, obedience, and joy.

Galatians 5:22 tells us what fruit we will bear when we abide in Jesus: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Does your fruit look like these? We need to be connected to the Trunk or Vine to bear fruit.

When a branch fails to produce fruit there is no point for the branch to continue to be part of the tree. Who wants grape vines with only leaves? No matter how pretty the leaves are we want it to have grapes.

As a tree or vine grows, it gets its nourishment from its roots. All plants and trees have a vascular system, much like ours. Our veins and arteries carry blood with oxygen and nourishment to all the organs in our body.

In a plant, the vascular system moves up the tree with water and minerals and down the tree with glucose and food. All the branches get the same nutrition because they all come from the same vine or trunk. However, a parasite can invade a branch and take its nourishment for itself, cutting off the food to that branch. The branch eventually dies and the parasite moves on to another branch.

We are like a tree. Jesus is the trunk and we are the branches. We all get the same nourishment from the roots and trunk. However, parasites can invade us. These parasites are unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, anger, strife, offenses, and wounds of all kinds. Maybe you have been abused, betrayed, hurt, or wounded by someone you loved or should have been able to trust. You carry the wounds and pain. The unforgiveness you hold on to can be like a parasite which steals your nourishment from the Vine. You can no longer produce fruit.

PRUNING - SOMETIMES PAINFUL, YET NEEDED

Our Master Gardener is an expert at getting rid of those ugly parasites. Sometimes He prunes the branch back to get rid of the infected part and sometimes he removes the parasite. Another word for pruning is cleansing. When we repent for unforgiveness (or any other "parasite") and give God our wounds, He cleanses us and then HE heals us! Healing can bring new fruit into our lives.

God is a GOOD Master Gardener; He loves you and wants you to be whole. He knows what it takes for you to thrive and plants you where you will be fed. Give Him your wounds and your parasites and hold fast to the Vine.

Thank you for reading Stephanie's inspirational post. Please join our conversation and tell us about your green or not-so-green thumb. How do you feel about God's pruning? I'll comment below, too. 

Author info:

Stephanie Pavlantos is passionate about getting people into God’s Word. She has taught Bible studies for fifteen years and has spoken at ladies’ retreats. Her first book was a Bible study on the book of Ephesians and spiritual warfare called The Few, the Humble, the Church. She is working on a Bible study called Yeshua, God’s Son, our Treasure: A Quest through the Book of Hebrews, which won an award at Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.

She wants to get people into the Word where they can discover God’s love for them, their identity in Christ, and find healing for the wounds of this life, while forgiving those who caused their pain. You can visit her blog at www.stephaniepavlantos.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stephaniepavlantos. She also writes devotionals for Refresh Online Bible study magazine at Lighthousebiblestudies.com.She and her husband, Mike, have been married for 26 years and have three college students, Matthew, Alexandria, and Michael. Stephanie loves animals and has two dogs, four ducks, three goats, and many chickens.