John 15th, verse 1 through 5. I am the true vine and my father is a gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

so that he will be even more fruitful.

You are already clean because of the word I've spoken to you.

Remaining 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.

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. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks to be to God.

Thanks, Joy.

There's a young family in our church, let's call them John and Sarah.

A few years ago they felt like their lives were starting to get a bit out ahead of them.

Their kids were young, but it still felt like they were somehow constantly busy, always moving from one thing to the next

and never really feeling like they had time.

So they decided to build something of a rule of life, though they may not have had that language

at first.

And so they decided that they realized that they could only

be as present with each other and their children

as they were with God and themselves.

So they built a rhythm of solitude together,

switching off parent duty to make sure that each of them had time alone with God.

But it wasn't just solitude.

...