Casandra Martin

We have a cactus that sits in a pot outside our front door. We call it Spike. It is everything that you would imagine a cactus named Spike would be. Tall, straight, green, and covered with inch-long thorns. Spike came to our house as a two inch little souvenir that my son brought home from an adventure to New Mexico with his grandparents. It had its own little plastic cup, and my son was delighted to bring home a piece of the desert to our humid city dwelling.

Today Spike is almost two and a half feet tall. He stands like a sentinel in his big, heavy pot. Lately, I have been watching an appendage grow straight out of Spike’s side. It started out as just a bulge, but this new piece of cactus is now almost twelve inches long. It is growing fast. Its base doesn’t touch the soil. It has no roots of its own. It depends on Spike, Sr. for all of its nutrients and water. Spike, Jr. is teaching me about Jesus.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (John 15:4)

Spike, Jr. is growing and thriving because it remains anchored in Spike, Sr. That connection is a picture of how my heart needs to be anchored in Jesus. The cactus doesn’t fret about being able to do it on its own. There is no streak of independence that challenges it to set up its own pot and handle matters by itself. There is no discontentment about having its identity flow from outside of itself. Life, growth, fruitfulness, and purpose flow from being connected to the Source.

My Jesus Resolution today is to abide. I love that word. Abide means to stay close, hang on, invest oneself, and find strength in. It is a connection word. Abiding in Jesus is my primary responsibility. If I try to set out on my own, I will falter. If I try to come and go from His presence, I will become unfruitful. Only by fully abiding in Him can I find the sustenance my soul craves, the purpose my life needs, and the future my heart desires.