My mother-in-law and father-in-law are certified “Master Gardeners”. Maybe some of you have heard of this program or even completed it yourself! Gardeners attending these courses receive intensive horticultural training that equips them to teach others about gardening, develop gardens, and conduct research. Did I lose you? Maybe you’re like me – a ‘black thumb’ who didn’t know a word like horticultural exists? If so, don’t fret! You don’t have to be a Master Gardener to understand the spiritual parallels we’ve discussed in recent posts and will continue to draw upon today! So hang with me…
A few weeks ago we discussed Spiritual Weeding – a necessary chore in the garden of a person’s heart. (Read: What’s Causing The Quarrels and Fights Among You?)
But then we learned it’s not enough to simply weed our garden. We have to plant if we want to produce! So we considered what it means to plant the “seeds of peace” that will produce a harvest of righteousness. (Read: Spiritual Gardening For Dummies)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve enjoyed thinking about and looking for opportunities to sow seeds of peace. And even though weeding isn’t anyone’s favorite chore, understanding how quickly those nasty weeds can get out of control has motivated me to tend the garden of my heart more carefully.
Chalk it up to “spring is in the air” but, for whatever reason, the gardening analogies continue… 🙂
I find it interesting that Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize Jesus on the morning she visited His empty tomb after He’d been crucified. And I don’t think it’s accidental that she mistook Him for a gardener (John 20:11-18). Perhaps in the subtlety of His mistaken identity there is a clue about His true identity. He is a gardener! The Master Gardener.
I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t 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. John 15:1-5
Oh sure, we plant. And, yes, we must weed. But who really brings the harvest? It’s a tricky question, isn’t it? It’s human nature to want credit for our labor. We kinda want people to know that we found seeds – we prepared soil – we planted – we watered – we weeded – we harvested. We all want to be seen as valuable, knowledgeable, and recognized for a job well done. Especially if we believe that we are the ones doing the work.
There’s something we must understand in this labor of sowing and reaping. If we can grasp this – wow – we will reap far more than we ever sowed! Here it is:
You and I can’t produce a harvest.
Is this deflating?
Does it make our labor in vain?
Not. At. All.
Accepting this truth is what liberates us to forge ahead into a world of seemingly green thumbs when we ourselves feel like black thumbs! It’s what brings joy when the work is hard. It’s what brings hope when the harvest seems puny.
In parenting, you and I can sow seeds of truth through teaching, training, and loving our kids, but we are not the true caretakers in our children’s lives.
In working we sow seeds of productivity through laboring with integrity, but we are not the true manager of any business or estate.
In artistry people sow seeds of beauty through designing, creating, and building, but even the most gifted are not the true cultivators of their craft.
In ministry we are called to sow the seeds of the gospel through proclaiming, loving, and serving, but we must do this by being the hands and feet of Jesus, the true Gardener in ministry.
When I believe the harvest is up to Me – that beauty is found in Me – that productivity depends on Me – or that people’s salvation is placed upon Me … then the pressure to perform steals the joy in my journey. No longer is this Jesus-thing a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. When this happens Christianity becomes a religion like any other, rather than a unique relationship with a Gardener who’s already promised a harvest. The prophet Isaiah puts it this way:
So, you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings. They may sprout on the day you set them out; yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them, but you will never pick any grapes from them. Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain. Isaiah 17:10-11
I don’t want this! Do you?! A lot of work and expense for some short-term sprouting that never produces actual fruit but rather a harvest of grief and pain? No thanks. I’d like to see that description on a packet of seeds and see how well they sell!
But isn’t this what we do to ourselves when we forget who the Master Gardener is?…
who the true Vine is?…
who the original Author is?…
who the finest Craftsman is?…
who the real Savior is?
In essence Isaiah is saying, “Sure, go ahead and use YOUR best gifts and resources, they might do some good… at first. But long-term you won’t produce anything that actually nourishes, strengthens, or delights (in the way fruit does).”
God help us.
Help us to sow seeds of faith…faith that trusts in YAHWEH to produce the harvest.
I’ll let the words of Isaiah close us out today. This is the truth worth clinging to if we want to enjoy this life of gardening:
Then at last the people will look to their Creator… They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made.” Isaiah 17:8
He is the Vine.
We are the branches.
Apart from Him – we can do nothing.
In Him – we will bear much fruit.
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Niki Schemanski is a wife of seventeen years and homeschooling mother of three children. A love of singing led her into an early career of performing and public speaking throughout Alaska and in various parts of the nation beginning at eight years old. After college, she spent more than a decade on staff as a worship pastor. Niki’s desire is to personally “taste and see that the Lord is good”. Her passion to help others do the same is what fuels her writing, worship leading, teaching, mentoring, and doula ministries. She and her family reside in Durango, Colorado.