As I was taking care of my baby plants this morning a stray
thought popped into my mind. Something,
or rather someone, I hadn't thought about in a long time. My grandfather. By the time I came along my grandfather was
very limited in his movements by rheumatoid arthritis (Oh, how I wish some of
modern medicine would have been available back then). I loved listening to his
stories and advice. He got around with the use of a wheelchair or cane,
depending on how his day way going.
Why did my mind bring up my grandfather while tending my plants?
Because my grandfather was a farmer, even when his movement was restricted by that
awful disease. He may not have always been able to go out into the fields
himself, but he guided the work. Farmers
from all around would come to ask my grandfather's opinion on various
plants. The workers on my grandfather's
farm varied, but when I was small they included my father, my uncle (who I
haven't seen in more years than I care to admit), as well as my mother and
grandmother, and even me and my brothers once we were old enough.
Farming is hard work.
While not always seen, the work goes on year round. I honestly didn't realize that until
lately. Even in winter when the ground
appears dead, the farmer is working, planning, preparing, for the next
crop. The grounds have to be prepared,
fertilized, and watch and remove any noxious weeds that may take root.
These wonderful people in my life, my family, may have
thought they were just going about their business while working on the farm,
but they actually taught me a larger priceless lesson. While farming work is hard, and may appear
fruitless at times, there is a reward in the end. With farming, the reward is the produce.
As I thought on my wonderful grandfather, actually both my
grandparents, who were taken way too soon, my thoughts then moved to my
Heavenly Father. He too works hard for
me. God's lessons in my life do seem to
come in odd packages these days, but they sure are powerful.
Weeding my plants
this morning I was fussing. Dog-gone centipede grass and weeds. I get it my young plants some breathing room,
and these unwanted plants reach out their tentacles and crawl back in. The grass and weeds choke out the nutrients and
sun from my newborn plants. Not just the
weeds are a challenge; poor branches on the plants can be a problem because
they too pull away nutrients to help the plant grow. These "sucker" branches have to be
pruned in order for the plant to become strong.
Then it hit me, the sins and unnecessary busy-ness of life, that
I allow to creep back into my life are just like the centipede grass, weeds,
and sucker branches. If I fail to stay
in God's Word, following him, allowing the weeding and pruning in my heart and
life, my undesirable behaviors and sins will slink back into my life, choking
God from me. Ohhhh, what an image that
idea created. My reward for working hard
for God, following close to Him and His Word, doing the work He calls me to do,
is eternal life.
Thank you, God, for continuing to work in my life, even when
my fleshly ground looks dead, with no fruit in sight. I long to produce the fruits in my life that
You are cultivating!
(Jesus speaking) “I am the true
grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that
does not produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they
will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the
message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch
cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful
unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who
remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can
do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless
branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if
you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want,
and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.
This brings great glory to my Father. “I have loved you even as the Father has
loved me. Remain in my love. John 15: 1-9 (NLT)
