During an iFIT walk on my treadmill through a Mallorcan olive grove, I saw and heard something on my screen that stopped me in my tracks (well, figuratively). An olive tree can be grafted with multiple varieties of olives—different branches producing different fruit, all sustained by a single root system. Farmers do this intentionally to strengthen the tree, increase fruitfulness, and combine what each branch alone could never accomplish.
As I walked, I couldn’t help but think—this is us.
Most of us live as if we are our own source of life. We try to produce better fruit—more patience, more peace, more purpose—by striving harder and managing behavior more carefully. But fruit is never the starting point. Connection is.
In the Epistle to the Romans, we are given a picture that would have been instantly recognizable to the original audience: we are branches grafted into a living tree. We are not self-made or self-sustaining. Our life, identity, and fruit all flow from the root we are connected to.
A branch does not fight to belong or strive to produce. It remains connected, and in that connection, everything changes. At the same time, not every branch is compatible with every tree. Some things may look good or feel right, but they are not designed to sustain life. When we attach ourselves to performance, approval, or control, we eventually find ourselves exhausted and still empty.
The life you are longing for is not something you manufacture. It is something you receive—not by trying harder, but by being grafted deeper into the only source of true life.
What root system are you truly drawing life from?
And that’s the Mid-Week Memo
Steve
