A Word from the Vine No. 555: Planting Again

Well hey there, friends. This is A Word from the Vine, and I'm Pastor Loren Christensen, coming to you from the Danish Countryside Chapel here in Exira.

Out among the vines, there's a season after a hard winter where everything looks bare — like nothing's ever going to grow there again. But a vine that looks dead in February can be heavy with fruit come August. It just takes longer than you'd like, and there's no shortcut through the waiting.

That's about where I am with Keli's passing. I'm not fully thawed out yet. But I'm starting to notice small things again — a good cup of coffee, a phone call from a friend, a sunset over the fields — the way you notice green starting to come back after a long winter.

The Psalmist knew this rhythm well:

"Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!" — Psalm 126:5

Not tears instead of joy. Tears that somehow, eventually, turn into it.

So to all of you who've walked this grief alongside me these past weeks — through your prayers, your casseroles, your patience with my silence — thank you. And to any of you carrying your own loss right now, wherever you are in the winter of it: spring does come. It's just slower than we'd like, and it's alright to still be waiting on it.

This is Pastor Loren. Thanks for listening to A Word from the Vine. And remember — the Gospel isn't just something we believe. It's something we live, one season at a time.