You have been told, a thousand times, that you must "stay connected" to God. Like a phone you recharge. Like a wifi signal you keep an eye on.
And some mornings, you wake up wondering if you have a signal. If the bars are still there. If God is still receiving your messages.
My friend, my sister — God did not plug you in. He grafted you in.
The difference is immense, and it changes everything.
A signal fluctuates. A graft holds. A device can be unplugged. A grafted branch lives off the trunk — even at night, even in winter, even when it sleeps. The sap rises into the branch without asking it whether it feels inspired this morning.
This is exactly what Jesus tells you, in words so simple we forget them:
"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 (ESV)
You do not have to maintain a connection. You have to abide. It is not the same work. To abide is to remain where you already are. It is to let yourself be fed by a sap that does not need you to rise.
And when you think you are far away, listen again:
"You have been grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the olive tree."
Romans 11:17 (ESV)
Nothing. Not even your silence. Not even your exhaustion. Not even this week when you felt nothing at all.
For this week
Stop asking God for a better signal.
When you doubt, place your hand on your heart and simply say: "I am grafted in. The sap rises, even when I do not feel it."
And look, once more, at the wound of the Cross — that scar where the wild branch you are was united to the trunk of the promise.
You are not a device to be recharged. You are a branch — loved, held, nourished.