A day off work - the simple blessings!

Have you ever just sat in the quietness of a new day? I mean really taken it in. I love a day off work, I mean who doesn’t. This particular morning I am thankful for Dr. MLK, not just because I get a day off work, but for a myriad of reasons. As I sat reading my devotions, from a Year with Dietrich Bonheoffer, it talked about community. “A community which permits within itself members who do nothing will be destroyed by them.”
Next, my eye caught a sight I have seen thousands of times since moving into our house. I love to see those pictures in art galleries of a country lane with snow covered trees, where it creates a tunnel effect with snow. Since it has been so warm this winter, we still have rain, not snow. On the tree in front of our house, the newly fallen raindrops were still clinging to the berries on the tree. I could clearly see it from 25 feet, the drops holding on for dear life, before they are blown to the ground, and the Holy Spirit hit me with a spiritual lesson.
First – WHY? Why do the berries need the raindrops to stick to them for a time? I mean Biology 101 teaches that, in nature, everything has a purpose. Wouldn’t the tree survive if the rain just passed on by to the ground? Then another quote from my devotions hit me, “Every Christian community must know that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak.” Even though the trunk, branches, and fruit are what we think of as the purpose and the strength of that tree, it needs those tiny raindrops. The tree is collecting them nearby, so that when they fall they will nourish the roots of that tree. Multiply those tiny drops by a few hundred and you’ve nourished that tree for the day. In our church, we need those who are spiritually strong and those who may need more substantial growth in their walk. WHY? In the New Testament Jesus tells us that the church is a body, where each member has its’ function, you cannot say to a part, you are no longer useful be gone. Bonheoffer states it like this, “The elimination of the weak is the death of the (spiritual) community.” In our disposable-minded society, the weak are often seen as acceptable to cast off. The strong are needed to teach, lead the church, and learn from those around them. By doing that, they are renewed, and the “weak” become the new generation of believers that nourish the strong’s spirit, drink it all in , and rise up to assume those same roles.
So, are we the rain drops clinging to the tree, or the branches growing out producing new fruit? In the Kingdom, our place should not matter to others. The maker of that tree is the source we should all cling to, and he has given us each other to help in that journey.