Clutching to the Vine

Welcome to "Clutching to the Vine"!

There are two very good reasons behind the name of this blog. For one thing, it is a word picture of how some of the difficult days of mothering feel. Sometimes I feel like I am nearly drowning in piles of laundry, toys scattered on the floor, and the feeling that everything I do will soon be undone. It is as if I am hanging on by a thread...or a vine. If I could draw a cartoon, it would include me sinking in quick sand in the middle of the jungle. I would be frantically grasping to a vine hanging from one of the trees.

Since I can't draw, I asked my ten-year-old son to illustrate it for me. He is all boy, though, and he thought a tiger would be much more exciting. I considered it and decided he was on to something. Here's his picture:

As I thought about it, I decided that the day-to-day struggles of motherhood are like quick sand. However, there are other things that are our tigers. Sometimes it is medical issues. Other times it is family problems. It can be a bully who torments your child, the house on the market that doesn't sell, or something that should be simple but isn't--like potty training. Ugh.

The second reason behind "Clutching to the Vine" is the remedy to the first. It relates to something Jesus said in the book of John:

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."--John 15:5 (NIV)

These words are a picture of my desperate need for Jesus. It is a beautiful way to say that I am a mess without Him. Some days it is a matter of "remaining" in him--continuing on step-by-step in sync with Him. Some days, though, I'm clinging in desperation to Him with the certainty that the Vine is all that stands between me and complete disaster.

That's what it's all about--clutching to Jesus. Moment by moment, day by day. It is my hope that this blog is a reflection of that, and that with each post I learn to trust Him more. In the meantime, I need to remind myself of the following:

1. Don't let the quick sand bog you down.
2. Watch out for tigers--they'll sneak up on you!
3. Hang on to Jesus. He's holding on to you.