So, this took a few days for finding something that just fit. It has been nearly a week since I read John 15. This chapter is one of the most significant for me as it was the central passage for my wife’s and my wedding. We love the deep sense of this passage of the interconnectedness between us, with God, with our families and our friends. There is a word that is used many times over in this chapter - Abide. We don’t use that word all that often any longer (other than quoting The Big Lebowski...”The Dude abides.” But it is such a beautiful word and a powerful word. It has such a sense of not just staying with but sticking with, dwelling with. It is in that meaning that it speaks to us - our marriage isn’t just about being with one another but it is truly abiding in God and abiding with one another through all times of life. This chapter speaks of the mutuality of abiding - that God abides in us as we abide in God.
For the last few days since reading it, I was trying to find something that captured this sense and it quite literally was a light that showed it to me yesterday. I saw this burst of sunlight on a tree (or is it a pair of trees) while I was on my morning walk. I couldn’t quite tell whether it was one tree that had grown into two trunks or it was two trees that were growing that close to one another. Either way...they are abiding with one another.
