Reflection:  Fruitful Vine

Everyone’s either been on the giving or receiving end of kids’ kitsch art. ‘Here Dad, a spray-painted macaroni collage for your office!’ I once gave my mom a plaque, painted at Kids’ Camp. Abide in Me, it read, and it went straight on the fridge. The thing I remember about that plaque, though, is my mother’s sincere and timely question: ‘Do you know what that means?’ and my rather flippant reply, ‘Of course!’

Now I know that it takes a lifetime to grow into what that means.

God’s first brushstrokes generated a garden, fertile and flourishing. But Old Testament Israel was a ‘fruitless vine’. What’s the point of a vine with no fruit?! May as well chop it down. And that’s exactly how God’s judgement is described (Ezekiel 17 is a rich read). But the Gardener had a bigger plan (gardeners usually do). Jesus – the perennial life-giving vine. Picture that vine wrapping around the globe with branches grafted to it, flourishing and fruitful. Picture the Gardener’s delight!

Prayer:  That I might be an eternal delight to you, Father, is an astounding notion. You’ve made that an objective truth by uniting me with Christ – connecting me to the vine. Nourish me with your word. Prune and shape me. Till you renew your garden paradise keep me and keep your world-wide church tenaciously dependant on your resources, that we might live praise-worthy and fruitful lives.