Clingy Vines

I have some trumpet flowers of sorts growing on my deck. While the flowers are pretty, the vines drive me a little crazy, grabbing onto everything around them to hold on for support. Their sticky grabby claws grow onto the wooden rails, the flower box, and anything else that gets in its way! I’m always pulling the vines off, unwrapping them from my flower box and other plants, and rerouting them back around the stake in their pot. While they keep growing, they could, if left unchecked, choke the life out of everything that they grab onto.

Desperate people do desperate things! Do you have desperate, needy, clingy people in your life? Or do you have any of the characteristics of a clingy, needy person?

If either is true, go to God for his true perspective of you and others. Don’t you/they just need to find themselves lost in God’s love, wrapped up in his arms of mercy and grace? Perhaps you can be the one to point them in the right direction. Their dependence needs to be on God, not exterior things or other people’s approval.

Once you have embraced that for yourself and remind yourself as often as necessary, you will be more of a powerhouse to let the clingy needy vines (people or addictions) go from your life, particularly if retraining the vines where to grow has failed. You and I need to just keep being grafted in to the True Vine through Jesus Christ in order to be strong inside, no longer needing validation from exterior sources.

Embrace the True Vine today! Here are some verses to ponder as you do:

• "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)
• "I am the vine, you are the branches… If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
• Continue reading through the whole chapter of John 15. You will be strengthened by the analogy, which continues to talk about God’s great love for you as well.

Thank God he’s all you’ll ever need today and every day!