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Campus Ministry

A Challenge and a Blessing

By Ashley Klesken, Graduate Assistant Stuart Hall


Imagine that a dead tree branch has been lying on your desk all winter next to some dusty books you’ve now reached for because of finals. To your surprise, with the coming of spring, the branch has begun to grow flower buds, and now it’s blossoming! Wow! All on its own, it produced beautiful flowers, a kind of “fruit”, in other words. This kind of individual, do-it-yourself growth method is what many of us, at least I know I do, try to do. However, in this Sunday’s gospel reading, the author of the Gospel of John suggests a different method for producing results.

 “Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains connected to the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.” What a challenge from John 15:4! To remain connected to Jesus in all of our work sounds like a lot to ask. But is it? In the very next verse, the gospel author writes that Jesus said “without me you can do nothing”. Certainly, we do not do nothing! We are working, studying, talking to family, friends…are we connected to Jesus when we do all of these things? We are, whether we realize it or not! Like the dead tree branch on your desk that cannot possibly bloom on its own, we cannot accomplish anything apart from Jesus Christ working within us.

Let us give thanks to our God who lives in us, strengthening us to do the many things that we accomplish daily. Let us take a moment to recognize that God is the source of all life, and, especially, the source of all love.

Ashley Klesken
Graduate Assistant Stuart Hall

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