THE GARDENER

John 15:1  "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."

So many people down south are begining to harvest their gardens.  But I was thinking about this weekend, Memorial Day and remembering when we lived in South Dakota.  I had decided I would plant a garden as I did not know where we could get home grown tomatoes and cukes if we did not grow them ourselves. Being new to the area, and it being small, I did not think they would have farmer markets there.  So I decided to get planting.  When I mentioned it to a neighbor, she told me that I could not plant yet, I had to wait until after Memorial Day as that was the first day we could probably count on no more frost and extreme cold weather.  I had to wait until it was time.....I had to prepare properly. 

My Lord Jesus is the true vine, the Father is the gardener.  I can learn a lot just here from my Beloved Jesus.  He is the true vine, we are the branches.  He is the supplier of what we need to grow strong and be fruitful through Him.  He supplies all the nutrients needed through His Word.  Strength, encouragement, Living Water, correction, joy, peace, protection.  He gives what we need, and if we take what is given to us, we can grow and bear much fruit.  There is a process involved each new season however, just as in my garden.  Pruning time.  All plants need pruning to continue to be fruitful, as they grow limp, the ends of the branches becoming grown over, calloused, hardened.  Once these are cut back, new growth will begin and the branch is brought back to new life.  The Lord prunes us in somewhat the same manner.  We tend to grow accustomed to things, letting things just kind of slide over us instead of noticing that it is not right; you ever laugh at something because everyone else is laughing and all the while knowing it is not funny?  Well, that is being calloused, hardened.  Your heart has lost the sensitivity, the sweetness of the Lord.  We seem at times to just fall back into old routines instead of the new life we have been led to by the Lord.  Ease back into old habits with the prompting of the enemy that it is really okay.  As long as our heart is in the Lord and our spirit seeking Him, He can prune all that off of us and restore us to the new life we were given. If we allow this pruning, it is an easy process.  But if we fight it, try to delay it, or excuse our behavior, it can become quite painful to us and grievous to our Lord.

If we fight it too long, our spirits will begin to wither, to die from the lack of true fellowship with the Father; the Holy Spirit will withdraw and our lives will become as dead.  There is no continual flow of the beautiful relationship that we had with the Father.  My God, please, prune away at me.  I cannot even allow the thought of this coming into my spirit, it would break my heart to be away from You for any time at all.  Let the process take off anything that is not of You, anything that would grieve You, or cause me to not receive Your blessings.  Without that continual flow from Your Spirit to mine, what good is anything.  I cannot live without You in my life.  I cannot live without Your heart connecting to mine, without Your presence with me daily.  So my precious Father, please walk into Your garden, come to the beautiful One, the True Vine, and prune the branch that I am.  Cut it back until all that is left is a living vessel that soaks up all the Living Water that flows from the Vine, the branch that draws nutrients from the Vine that are necessary for living the life of my Lord.  There is nothing in me that will draw away from Your shears, I will not hide from the process, I openly and willing give myself unto You for any correction, any refining that You deem necessary to protect my life from falling away, from dying off the vine.  I love You, my Father.

I want to bear fruit for You, my Lord.  When the Father looks at You and sees me a part of You, I want You to be able to look at me and smile, while telling the Father to look at the fruit on Your branches, look what we are producing.  I want to be doing the will of my Father, as You have taught me to do.  Your Word has instructed me as to how to be what You want me to be, how to bear good fruit, how to not waste anything that You have given me in order to spread the word of Your love, Your forgiveness and Your redemption.  You want me to use what You have produced in me to produce in others.

What a place I am in.  The Presence, the Holy Presence of my God.   My Lord, You are so holy, so very holy.  Who am I that You would invite me into Your presence.  I am so blessed, I, who You have loved back to life, to who You have given so much, and all I can give You in return is my love, my devotion, my life.  It is Yours my God, all Yours.  I will worship You with all my life, all that is in me, each day, all day, until You come for me, my Lord.  This 29th day of May, 2011; I am in awe of a Holy God.  I am in the Presence of my beautiful Lord.