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4. Only a Branch

"Only a Branch"

 "I am the vine, ye are the branches."--John 15:5

 A thing so fragile and weak,

 But that little Branch hath a message true

 To give, could it only speak.

 "I'm only a little Branch,

 I live by a life not mine,

 For the sap that flows through my tendrils small

 Is the life-blood of the Vine.

 "No power indeed have I

 The fruit of myself to bear,

 But since I'm part of the living Vine,

 Its fruitfulness I share.

 "Dost thou ask how I abide?

 How this life I can maintain?--

 I am bound to the Vine by life's strong band,

 And I only need remain.

 "Where first my life was given,

 In the spot where I am set,

 Upborne and upheld as the days go by,

 By the stem which bears me yet.

 "I fear not the days to come,

 I dwell not upon the past,

 As moment by moment I draw a life,

 Which for evermore shall last.

 "I bask in the sun's bright beams,

 Which with sweetness fills my fruit,

 Yet I own not the clusters hanging there,

 For they all come from the root."

 A life which is not my own,

 But Another's life in me:

 This, this is the message the Branch would speak,

 A message to thee and me.

 Oh, struggle not to "abide,"

 Nor labour to "bring forth fruit,"

 But let Lord Jesus unite thee to Himself,

 As the Vine Branch to the root.

 So simple, so deep, so strong

 That union with Him shall be:

 His life shall forever replace thine own,

 And His love shall flow through thee.

 For His Spirit's fruit is love,

 And love shall thy life become,

 And for evermore on His heart of love

 Thy spirit shall have her home.

Freda Hanbury

Poetry By Brian McMichan

Guest Writers

Trusting in Jesus Home Page

Only a Branch

"Lets Teach Our Children to Love"

Why is it so difficult for our educators and society, in general, to understand that love and respect for one another taught from a young age can solve much of the world's hostility and social problems!

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it" (Prov 22:6).

Love is the answer!

Loyalty and Faithfulness

True loyalty springs from the heart and is wrapped in love. It is often in our most private moments that true loyalty, or the lack of it, is made known.