Picking Muscadines

"Cora, Gran just called," Mom said. "She said the muscadines are ready to be picked.""Yay! When can we go over and help?" Cora loved helping her grandparents pick their muscadine grapes each summer."I told Gran we'd be over early tomorrow morning before it gets too hot."Mom and Cora got up early the next morning and headed over to Gran and Gramps' house. Gran met them in the driveway, and they took the tractor and trailer down to the vineyard. "Gramps is already busy picking," Gran said. "I think we're going to have a good crop this year. The vines are loaded."When Gran stopped the tractor, Cora grabbed a bucket and got busy. As she was picking near Gran, she noticed that one of the branches looked dead and didn't have any muscadines on it. "What happened to this branch, Gran?""See where it's broken loose from the vine?" said Gran. "Without the vine, it can't live or produce fruit."By the time they stopped for lunch, Cora had picked five buckets full of muscadines. "I pulled that dead branch out that Cora found today," Gramps said while they were all enjoying sandwiches and lemonade. "It made me think of a Bible verse.""What verse is that?" Cora asked.Gramps took a Bible off the counter and opened it to John 15:5. "Cora, will you read it for us?"Cora took the Bible and began reading. "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." Cora looked up. "What does that actually mean?""Well," said Gramps, "just like the muscadine branches need the vine to live and produce fruit, we need Jesus, our vine, to grow and produce spiritual fruit. We can't grow as Christians or show others God's love on our own--we need to be connected to Jesus in faith so His Spirit can work in us and produce fruit through us.""Wow, that's pretty cool!" said Cora. "I think I get it now. Since I trust in Jesus, He's my vine and I'm His branch.""I think you've got it," Gran said. "Now, let's go pick some more muscadines."–Lisa Fuller