The Vine - Full on gardening.
The other morning I was reading something that Jesus once told his disciples. And because they (inspired by the Holy Spirit) were prudent enough to write it down, Jesus now speaks it into our lives. What he is saying is massive, so I just want to dwell on it over the next few days.
[Jesus said] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” John 15:1
My Dad is a gardener, not by occupation but by nature (although now he does occasionally get paid for it). He has been one for as long as I have been alive; he was also a gardener long before I appeared.
When I say that my father is a gardener I’m not talking about someone who keeps his lawn in order and repopulates his flower beds every spring. No, I mean my Dad is a hard-core full on gardener. As long as I can remember he has had an allotment in which he grows a variety of vegetables and fruit. He grew enough to last us for a good long time and any surplus, of which there always was some, he would bag up and put on a chair at the end of the drive to sell to passers by. I loved the idea of this chair. It would stand confident at the end of the drive piled high with vegetables and a little pot for people to put their money in. It would stay out there unmanned until all the good were gone and in that time no-one ever stole coins from the pot or vegetables without paying for them first. Mad! It was as though this chair belonged to a bygone age but everyone still respected it.
He also built his own green house in our back garden from scratch. This proud wooden structure even withstood the 1987 hurricane which hit our part of the country! In this green house he grows his seedlings and tomatoes, so many tomatoes. He also used to grow his own flowers, chrysanthemums if I remember correctly. I presume that he grew them on his allotment too, and every so often he would bring a big bunch home for mum.
Gardening, while undoubtedly a pleasure to him, was not a ‘hobby’. Pass times can be picked up and put down at any time but gardening requires all of you attention; you either give yourself to it or you don’t. To be a gardener you need to know what time of the year it is, and what happens in that season, you need to plan for it to get the best out of it. You need to know the quality of your soil and how to maintain it. You need to know when to plant, when to cut back, when to mulch. Being a gardener does not always mean that you are directly involved in your plants, at times you have to just let them grow.
In a similar way we may feel at times that God, as our gardener, may not be directly involved in our lives; he simply allows us to grow in between times of pruning or watering. But that is only the half of it! In those times when we are unaware of His presence, God is planning for the seasons ahead; He is getting ready to protect us against the frost, He watches us carefully keeping us well positioned, moving us if we need it. He ensures that we are well watered and protected from pests. He is checking the soil, deciding what nutrients need to be added to keep it healthy and therefore keeping us healthy. God keeps His hands dirty as He constantly tends to us, more so than we can imagine.
This is just a simile though. In reality there is a fundamental difference between us the plants a real gardener has to tend to; we can choose whether we live [and thrive] or die [and wither]. Plants will attempt to grow and bear fruit no matter what. They will hunt out any drop of water they can, they will absorb every ray of sunlight and every nutrient in the soil They do this as though they have no choice, and of course they don’t; God commanded them to multiply and that is what they must obey (Gen1:11-13). We have a choice. We can choose to obey; the choice and consequence is ours. God can tend to us, improve the soil, offer us frost protection, water us, feed us, but it is up to us whether we absorb this goodness and bear fruit.
It may be that what we are called to do the thing that would give us the most pleasure, but ‘fruit’ doesn’t just appear in our lives. We may be in the right place, receive the right food, but if we decide not to do anything with it, in the end, we will always wither [in faith and in fullness of life].
Today, the challenge on my life is will I respond to the touch of my heavenly Gardener in my life? Every morning we may sense his green fingered touch and succumb to it that he may skilfully work in our lives as we choose to bear fruit.
[Jesus said] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” John 15:1
My Dad is a gardener, not by occupation but by nature (although now he does occasionally get paid for it). He has been one for as long as I have been alive; he was also a gardener long before I appeared.
When I say that my father is a gardener I’m not talking about someone who keeps his lawn in order and repopulates his flower beds every spring. No, I mean my Dad is a hard-core full on gardener. As long as I can remember he has had an allotment in which he grows a variety of vegetables and fruit. He grew enough to last us for a good long time and any surplus, of which there always was some, he would bag up and put on a chair at the end of the drive to sell to passers by. I loved the idea of this chair. It would stand confident at the end of the drive piled high with vegetables and a little pot for people to put their money in. It would stay out there unmanned until all the good were gone and in that time no-one ever stole coins from the pot or vegetables without paying for them first. Mad! It was as though this chair belonged to a bygone age but everyone still respected it.He also built his own green house in our back garden from scratch. This proud wooden structure even withstood the 1987 hurricane which hit our part of the country! In this green house he grows his seedlings and tomatoes, so many tomatoes. He also used to grow his own flowers, chrysanthemums if I remember correctly. I presume that he grew them on his allotment too, and every so often he would bring a big bunch home for mum.
Gardening, while undoubtedly a pleasure to him, was not a ‘hobby’. Pass times can be picked up and put down at any time but gardening requires all of you attention; you either give yourself to it or you don’t. To be a gardener you need to know what time of the year it is, and what happens in that season, you need to plan for it to get the best out of it. You need to know the quality of your soil and how to maintain it. You need to know when to plant, when to cut back, when to mulch. Being a gardener does not always mean that you are directly involved in your plants, at times you have to just let them grow.In a similar way we may feel at times that God, as our gardener, may not be directly involved in our lives; he simply allows us to grow in between times of pruning or watering. But that is only the half of it! In those times when we are unaware of His presence, God is planning for the seasons ahead; He is getting ready to protect us against the frost, He watches us carefully keeping us well positioned, moving us if we need it. He ensures that we are well watered and protected from pests. He is checking the soil, deciding what nutrients need to be added to keep it healthy and therefore keeping us healthy. God keeps His hands dirty as He constantly tends to us, more so than we can imagine.
This is just a simile though. In reality there is a fundamental difference between us the plants a real gardener has to tend to; we can choose whether we live [and thrive] or die [and wither]. Plants will attempt to grow and bear fruit no matter what. They will hunt out any drop of water they can, they will absorb every ray of sunlight and every nutrient in the soil They do this as though they have no choice, and of course they don’t; God commanded them to multiply and that is what they must obey (Gen1:11-13). We have a choice. We can choose to obey; the choice and consequence is ours. God can tend to us, improve the soil, offer us frost protection, water us, feed us, but it is up to us whether we absorb this goodness and bear fruit.It may be that what we are called to do the thing that would give us the most pleasure, but ‘fruit’ doesn’t just appear in our lives. We may be in the right place, receive the right food, but if we decide not to do anything with it, in the end, we will always wither [in faith and in fullness of life].
Today, the challenge on my life is will I respond to the touch of my heavenly Gardener in my life? Every morning we may sense his green fingered touch and succumb to it that he may skilfully work in our lives as we choose to bear fruit.
posted by Andrew at 6:23 am
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