Once upon a time there was a Great Tree in the middle of a Beautiful Garden. The Tree was so great that all the birds and squirrels of the world could come and make their home in It at the same time. There were thousands of branches on this Tree. Some hung low to the ground carrying the weight of their fruit, while others bounced highly above, just beginning to produce. On the very top was a new shoot that sprouted out proudly into the sunshine. The little branch was so excited to be on the top of the tree. He felt very happy knowing that everyone could see he was part of the Great Tree in the middle of the Beautiful Garden.
It was a glorious life, there on the top of the Tree. But there was one problem. Every time the little branch got comfortable, the Great Tree started to make Him grow. Now, growing wasn’t all bad. It did make him taller and stronger. Yet there were times the little branch just didn’t want to grow. He didn’t want the Life-Giving Sap flowing through his little stem into his shiny new leaves. It didn't always feel good. Sometimes, it just plain hurt. Sap from the Great Tree stretched and hardened his bark. It pulled and widened his leaves. Something seemed to always be happening in him that was beyond his control...and the little branch, well, he didn't like that.
One day, he'd had enough. Even though he knew the hardness of his bark, the thickness of his leaves, and the tiny bunches of unripe fruit that hung gently from his branches were because of the Life-Giving Sap, none of that swayed his determination to be free. He didn’t want to grow anymore. He didn’t want to be stretched. He didn't want to be controlled. So one day, as Life-Giving Sap from the Great Tree was rising through his stem at a rapid pace, he constricted himself around the liquid, all but cutting if off. “Hey, that wasn’t so hard,” he thought to himself, “I’m finally in control.”
For the next few days, the little branch squeezed and constricted the Life-Giving Sap and kept It from reaching his leaves. It wasn’t long before he didn’t feel the pain of growth anymore. He actually began to not feel anything at all. What a relief. He could finally breathe a little.
In all of his new-found comfort, the little branch forgot about his budding fruit and his shiny leaves. He didn’t recognize that the little birds and the squirrels never played on him anymore. And frankly, he just didn’t care.
One day, a little boy passed by the Great Tree. The little branch noticed that he didn't look happy, as most children did when they would pass by on their way to school. Instead, this little boy looked very frightened and thin. "He must be hungry," thought the branch.
You see, the child had wandered into the Beautiful Garden and become lost, not knowing how to get home. Just the thought of this made the little branch very upset. He'd been fascinated by little children since he first began to sprout. “I know, I will help him," he thought, "I’ll shake my fruit from my limbs and let it fall to the ground so the little boy can at least have something to eat.” Pleased with this thought, the little branch looked up to see which limb held the ripest and plumpest of all the fruit. To his horror, what he saw was a mass of leafless, lifeless limbs with only rotten fruit where the healthy fruit used to be. His bark was gray and peeling off, and his shiny green leaves were nowhere to be found. “What's happened to me?” he thought.
And then, a great voice came from below. It wasn't a thundering voice with harsh, cold tones. Instead, it was a gentle whisper: “Without Me, little branch, you can do nothing, for a branch cannot live or produce any fruit when it cuts itself off from the Life-Giving Sap of the Great Tree.” Saddened and ashamed, the little branch hung low, and the little boy continued on his way. How horribly sad. The little branch had missed the chance to give life to the child. If he’d continued to grow and allow the Great Tree to give him life, then he would have been able to provide the little boy with something he desperately needed…fruit.
Devastated by what he'd done, the little branch now understood that his job as a branch was to grow and produce fruit, even if their was pain in the process. Oh how he wished he'd realized that sooner.
The next day there was a great wind in the Beautiful Garden. The little branch watched in horror as the withered fruit and dried branches from his own limb, fell from the top of the Great Tree and hit the earth below. Reminded again about the little boy, he began to ache with sorrow. Then, as gently as it had come the first time, the little branch heard the voice of the Great Tree saying, “Let Me live in you, little branch, and you live in Me and together, we can produce much fruit."
"That's it! That's it!" and with that thought, the little branch who had long ago squeezed and constricted himself so as not to feel the Life-Giving Sap of the Great Tree, relaxed his bark and gave in to the Sap that waited patiently to pour back into and completely fill his woodened stem.
"I feel it! I feel it!" the little branch cheered with excitement. From that day on, he never hindered the work of the Life-Giving Sap again. Yes, sometimes it hurt to be stretched and hardened, but the little branch knew what would happen if he didn't grow, plus what could happen if he did! Never again did a little boy visit the Great Tree and not receive fruit from the little branch. Never again did a child grow hungry because the little branch's fruit was withered and rotten. Never again did the little branch NOT give in to the Life-Giving Sap. But instead, the little branch grew and grew producing great amounts of fruit that fed all those who came by the way of the Great Tree in the Beautiful Garden.
John 15:4,5 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in Me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any remain in Me and I remain in them, they produce much fruit. But without Me they can do nothing.
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