“Not everyone thinks the way you think. … Remember this and you will go a long way in getting along with people.” – Arthur Forman

It is an interesting thing.

We are herd animals in the sense that we want to hang out with people who think like we think, who believe what we believe.

The problem is, if we spend enough time together we will arrive at the place where our paths do not continue placidly on. They will have their opinion or method or desire and you will have yours. What to do, what to do!

If you are married, you already know that there are those moments when you do not see eye to eye and there is a conflict.

If you are STILL married, you made it past that crisis and have learned how to cope with the differences…and they will arise again and again, no matter how much you want life to go your way unchallenged.

You could become a recluse, but before long, you would get on your OWN nerves…because we are created and intended to be challenged and to grow.

Imagine a seed, sprouting and reaching and about to break through the soil into the sun. Every time it approaches the light, it turns back and goes back down into the soil, avoiding the surface for the comfort of the known darkness. It will never grow, it will never produce, it will never mature. It will be a tangled up pale embryo of what it was ordained to be.

You and I can do the same, avoiding and resisting anything that will cost us time and energy.

We can deny our destiny, refuse the light, and remain stunted and pallid.

Or we can burst through the barrier and unfurl our foliage and grow and grow and grow and become what we were meant to be.

John 15:1-3 New International Version (NIV)

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.