Abiding

John 15 begins with the famous "remain in Me" passage, where Jesus compares His relationship with His disciples to that of a vine and branches.  

What it means to "remain" or "abide" is a topic that I've heard a lot of teaching about -- how branches exist and can bear fruit because they're connected to the vine, etc.  To be honest, most of it has seemed kind of obvious or not particularly memorable.  

But this summer it's come home to me in a new way, courtesy of our daughter (currently called Kicky, due around the end of September).

She abides.  Her life depends utterly on my life.  She eats and sleeps, gets hiccups and dreams, all in the context of being connected to me.  She may kick and flail at times, but she's not going anywhere that I'm not going.

I don't think she stresses about if she's spending enough time with me, or if she's growing at the expected rate, or if she's making me proud.  She doesn't have to.  

And I love her dearly.

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