Be A Vine

My friend, Edith, sent me a book of Lenten meditations this spring. It's called "Organic God" and is written by Kate Moorehead who was Edith's priest at St. James Episcopal Church in Wichita. She had sent me one of Kate's books for Advent and knew I enjoyed reading it as a daily spiritual discipline. Likewise I've enjoyed this Lenten book. Using the words of Jesus, Kate explores spiritual themes from an organic aspect using nature as her metaphor. One meditation that really caught my interest was the one on Sunday which explores the vine as a metaphor for discerning God's will. Searching for and interpreting God's will for my life has been a struggle. I never seem to quite 'get it.' And from what Kate writes, I'm not alone! As she explains it, God's will isn't a problem to be solved or a guessing game to win or lose. The fullness of God's grace and being allows us such freedom that almost anything we do...as long as it is rooted in Christ...is what makes Him happy and what He will support. There is no one right answer. This is rather like what Ignatius of Loyola suggests as well...that God gives us imagination and inspiration and ideas. And He expects us to use them! Kate uses the metaphor of the vine to explain this. Vines grow in any direction, on almost any surface. They are strong and versatile. Faced with a rock or a steep surface, they will find a way to survive and thrive, as long as they stay attached and rooted to the main stem of the plant. If we are the vine and Christ is the stem, we can grow and thrive and explore all our imaginings and inspirations if we always stay firmly rooted and attached to Him. As simple as this is---this is God's will.