Have You Ever Tried to Pass a Grapefruit?

John 15
4"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.5"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing.

Philippians 4
6Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. 7Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Galatians 5:22-25
22But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, 23not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. 24Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good--crucified.25Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

Matthew 6:25,33
25If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.
33Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

What does it look like to be in step with the Holy Spirit? To be on God's wave-length? To have your heart beat with His? I believe John speaks of it as he describes Jesus walking with his disciples and teaching them the idea of "remaining." I imagine he probably grabbed a bunch of grapes on the vine to give them a mental image of the kind of relationship he was describing. I think Paul understood it when he penned the words concerning contentment and anxiety. How does he tell us to respond to life? Don't be anxious! Instead...Remain/Pray..."And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." PEACE--a fruit of the Spirit Paul mentions in Galatians 5:22 is ours through remaining in the Vine. We're told not to worry, but to pray and watch God do His thing!

In all honesty, I stink at remaining. Most days I feel like a sick and twisted gardner took me (a branch off of a plum tree) and somehow grafted me onto a grapefruit tree. Each day as I try to "remain," I struggle. You try to pass a grapefruit when you've been used to plums! The fact of the matter is that the Gardner is not sick and twisted. He knows what He's doing and he knows how to do this thing called life.