I was headed to a local wildlife management area before the world fully woke up, camera bag on the seat beside me, fog still thick across the fields. That is when I noticed the trees. Two of them, standing in perfect alignment with one another, maybe twenty feet apart. The one closest to the pond’s edge was full — genuinely, quietly full. The other stood at that twenty-foot distance from the water and it showed. Same pasture. Same sky. Same drought. Twenty feet of distance from the source, and two entirely different realities. I have lived in both of those trees.
Tag Archives: abide
Verse & Vision | May 29, 2026
The night before the crucifixion, Jesus told His disciples: I am the vine, you are the branches, and My Father is the gardener. What follows is not a threat. It is a description of how a vineyard works, offered by someone who knew His listeners understood pruning – and what a skilled gardener does to keep something alive and fruitful. The word translated “cuts off” can also mean “lifts up.” The word translated “prunes” shares its root with the word for clean. Today we look at what this passage actually says about loss, preparation, and the Gardener who always knows what He is doing.