Thriving Vines

Thriving Vines

Your mother was like a vine planted by the water’s edge. It had lush, green foliage because of the abundant water. Its branches became strong—strong enough to be a ruler’s scepter. It grew very tall, towering above all others. It stood out because of its height and its many lush branches.

Ezekiel 19:10-11

One of the hardest jobs in the world is being a parent. Children come with numerous needs, and when you add more than one child to the family, those needs seem to multiply. There are often more parenting requirements than minutes in the day, and as every parent knows, time is limited:

Children are considered a gift from God and family size attests to that: the average Amish family has seven children. . . . With such a high birthrate, the Amish have become the fastest growing population in the United States. As of 2009, the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania calculated there are over 233,000 Amish. Over half the population is under eighteen years of age.

“Children are the poor man’s wealth,” says one proverb.

. . . One father wrote in Family Life magazine, “Children have only one childhood. We can fail in business and often times start over and make good. But if we fail in the teaching and training of our children, we never get another chance.”

Comments like these could make the role of parenting seem overwhelming, yet we are not left on our own in our efforts. John 15:4-5 says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

Yes, God’s Word calls mothers a plant by the water’s edge, but God does not make us struggle for all that we need. Jesus gives us more than tools to help us be good parents; He gives us Himself. Walk with Him today, and those in your family will be blessed!

Dear heavenly Father, how amazing it is that I can depend on You so that I might flourish!