Subverting the Growth Cycle

Several years ago I decided in order to fully understand the ties Scripture makes between vineyards and the spiritual life I needed to plant some vines.  I went out and bought two varieties of grapes, wine barrels to plant them in, soil, trellises, and because my wife and I had just watched Letters to Juliet, marble stones to lay around the base to absorb the heat of the sun.

Understanding a movie was probably not the best place to receive an education on how to grow and care for vines, I also began doing research on the internet.  I found sites which gave you all the information you would need to understand the soil, watering, and pruning necessary to produce a bumper crop.  I even took a field trip to a winery in Temecula which had a display of various ways of training grape vines.  In a very short time I had the best education on how to grow grape vines which an hour on the internet and a field trip to a winery could provide. 

I understood growing my vines would take plenty of time, patience, and planning.  I knew the first couples of years were dedicated to establishing the vines and it would not be until the third year that I would fruit.  I was ready for the process, after all this is what the project was about, engaging in the cultivations of these vines so I could have a hands on experience of this spiritual metaphor.

The first season went great.  My vines were planted and established and I began training them to mimic what I had seen in photos and at the vineyard.  In my second season I had to learn to deal with overly vigorous vines, but this did not discourage me because I thought it meant the soil must be good.  In my third year I actually had some fruit on the vines and though it was not much I celebrated by eating it.

Then the fourth year happened.  The vines were growing vigorously early in the season.  I had many grape clusters forming.  Things looked promising for a bumper crop.  Then I forgot to water the vines for a week, OK maybe it was three.  The result was in the middle of the season the leaves began to wither and fall off.  Soon my luscious vines were nearly bare.  Rather than a bumper crop, I was wondering if they were going to survive.  It got so bad I finally decided to write off the season and simply prune the vines back.

Normally cutting your vines back is something you do in winter.  I was taking this drastic step in August.  I thought the vines would simply lay dormant until the next growing season.  Apparently my hour of education left me a little wanting in the knowledge of what happens when you prune your vines out of season.  Rather than sending the plant into a dormant state, it triggered the growing cycle all over again.  In a matter of weeks I had new growth on the vine and leaves began to appear and small clusters of grapes began to form.  Living in the temperate climate of Southern California has its advantages, or so I thought.

The vine went through its cycle, it even produced some fruit, albeit at the wrong time of the year.  The grapes it formed were not very healthy looking and did not taste very good.  What I thought was a blessing, a way of reducing the time in which the vine would be unproductive, actually caused the vine to produce fruit which was bad. 

Scripture says any tree (or vine for that matter) which does not bare good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  I was not quite ready to have my vine meet this fate, especially because I was the one who had failed to water it and pruned it out of season.   When January rolled around I pruned it back aggressively and waited to see what would happen.  Like clockwork my vines returned to their normal growth cycle.  I watched as they began putting out new branches, growing beautiful green leave, and producing healthy clusters of grapes. 

Things were not perfect, the vines experienced another dry spell when I neglected to water the vines for a week or two, and leaves began to fall.  This time rather than taking the drastic action of cutting the vines back, I let them be.  I watered them, cared for them best I could, and I waited.

Amazingly they recovered, and produced fruit. I would not call it a bumper crop.  I think the vines were still recovering from the previous season, but the fruit looked much healthier than last year’s crop.  Just before harvest time a rogue gang of sparrows came and robbed me of the fruit of my vines, but I was fine with it.  After all, I think part of the purpose of bearing fruit is to benefit others.

I have been struck by how my experience with these vines often mirrors our response in our spiritual lives to times when we interpret what we experiencing as a loss or failure to thrive.  Our reaction is to cut back the vines, rather than trusting God has built a resiliency in them which will bring life.  If fact, what we perceive as dying, may actually be a transitional phase to a much more fruitful season, but because all we see is the withering of the leaves in the moment, we over react and start hacking away. The result is often the inability to produce good fruit, at least for a season or two, until we settle back into the natural rhythms of growth. 

Peter comes to mind as someone who was looking around at the situation in which he found himself and determining the leaves had begun to wither.  His reaction was to take action.  At the very moment Jesus was exercising trust in the Father and giving Himself completely to His will, Peter pulls out a sword and begins hacking away.  It probably felt good, being a man of action, thinking somehow he was going to pull it all back from the brink of death.  But it was not the case, for good fruit to be produced events had to be allowed to moved through this season.  What seemed like a withering was actually an ushering in of life.

I wonder sometimes what would happen if we did not react by trying to cut away what appears to us to be the dying branches, and trusted that God was up to something in the withering.  After all, I am sure the wilting of a few leaves on my vine was a response of the vine to the stress which had been placed upon in order to preserve the fruit it was producing, and allow the plant to survive.   I did not allow this natural response to preserve life. Instead, I sent the vine into shock and put it into an unnatural cycle of growth that produced bad fruit.  The only thing which would restore the natural cycle of life and growth was a severe pruning.

How many severe prunings do we have to experience before we learn to trust God is up to something, even in the times when it appears the leaves are drooping?  When will we develop the capacity to lay down our loppers and allow the vine to weather the season of stress so that good fruit might be produced?  I have a sneaky suspicion from watching my vines, until we do so, the fruit we so desire to see will be elusive and the need for a harsh pruning will remain.

I also know, from my experience of tending vines, when we resist the temptation to circumvent the natural growth process, when we learn to yield, wait and trust, good fruit will be produced. 

You Never Know...

Several months ago I wrote a blog call Ghost From the Past.  In it I detailed a trip to Oklahoma with one my best friends.  It was an opportunity to see and serve his mother and to exercise some demons from our past.  In it I told the story of how my Father lowered me down into a storm drain so I could retrieve a toy gun I had dropped into it.  I recounted how terrifying this was and how I begged him not to do it.  It is a memory I have carried with me all of my life, even though I was only 3 or 4 when it happened.  I remembered it so vividly because after that I never felt like I could fully trust my father, or anyone else for that matter, to keep me safe. 

My father recently made his yearly visit to our house for the holidays.  While he was here, he asked about our trip Oklahoma.  In the process of telling him about it, I pulled out my laptop and showed him the photos of the house we had lived in.  Tucked into the various photos of the house was a photo of the storm drain.  He asked me, “Why did you take a picture of that?”  I then recounted, in the gentlest way I could, the events which took place on the day I dropped my rifle down the dark hole.  My father simply said, “I do not remember it.”

He was not trying to avoid the feelings I have carried with me all my life. There was no indication in his facial expression or tone of voice he might be hiding the fact he knew more than he was letting on.  The reality was, he was sincere in his lack of recall.  This event, which was burned into my memory, and which had shaped much of my life, was but a passing moment to him, which was forgotten almost as quickly as it happened.  You can see why, for him the issue was a lost gun.  It had been retrieved and restored to its owner.  There was nothing more to think about.

It struck me as I let his lack of recall of the incident sink in, we have no idea how the passing moments of our lives, which have little meaning to us, are affecting others.  What seems to us like normal preoccupation with the task at hand may seem like a lack of attention and value to our children.  What we meant to be a playful remark to someone we love may cut them to the core.  What may look like a simple solution to a problem like a lost gun may be a memory which will be etched in the mind of a child and affect how they relate to others in the future.  This happens because it is not only what we intend in a situation which matters, it is also how it lands on the person that will determine how it is received.

This might feel like a pretty heavy weight, knowing our actions and words can shape another human being in whys we never envisioned or intended.  If we focus on just the negative aspects of this reality it might be a weight we simply would rather not carry.  However, it is important to keep in mind what works in the negative often has the very same effect in the positive as well.

This week I spent some time with women who shared a story with me about one of her nieces.  This niece grew up in a home which did not always make her feel loved.  The aunt told of how her niece had confided this to her.  In response the aunt had given her a copy of the Bible, wanting her to discover just how dearly loved she was by God.  As she related this story to me she also related to me each time she saw her niece after that, she would bring up the New Testament she had been given, the fact she was reading it and how grateful she was for it. 

Now I happen to think there is much life to be found in the book she was given, but I think there is more to the niece’s treasuring of this present.  As a gift it was an expression of love.  It made her feel valued to have it given to her.  It gave her a sense she was seen by another person and worthy of receiving.  It was not so much about the physical book, but want it represented as an expression of love and of being cared for.  

To listen to the aunt tell about it, you could see she was surprised at how valuable the little copy of the New Testament had become to her niece.  Her actions shaped another human being in ways she never imagined they could.  This is a great power, especially for those who understand how to wield it in life giving ways.

It the book the aunt gave to her niece it speaks to this truth.  It tells us to encourage one another and build one another up.  It call us to let no corrupting talk come out of our mouths, but only such as is good for building up, that it may give grace to those who hear.  It reminds us rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing, and gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ephesians 4:29, Proverbs 12:18, 16:42)

The Bible takes it one step further; it calls us to not only love in word or speech but also in deed and in truth. (1 John 3;18) Love moves beyond encouraging words to acts of kindness.  This can look like bearing one another's burdens, meeting someone’s needs, or using our gifts to bless others. It can show up in our gentleness, compassionate, and patience.  It can be as simple as just being with someone, listening, and acknowledging what they feel, or in providing a meal, raking a yard, and sharing what you have.

You may never know how any of these things actually land on someone else's soul, but this fact does not change the reality any one of these words of encouragement or acts of kindness may impact a life in very significant and life altering ways.

What would it be to live life in such a way that you were aware any of your words or actions could be making an impact you did not recognize in the moment, and maybe could never imagine.  How would this change the way you speak and relate to others?  What would it do to how you use the things you possess?  What would it feel like to know your interaction with another person enriched their life and shaped them for the better, even if you did not know it until years later, if ever? 

We cannot know the state of a person’s heart or how things will land upon it, but if what we are offering is loving, kind, and generous the reality is our actions and words can be a wonderful gift, shaping another human being in ways we never envisioned or intended..  I encourage you to recognize the power of this gift and use it wisely, even if you have absolutely no idea of the effect it is having.

Old Friends and New Wine

One of the benefits of having not moved immediately after our transition in ministry is we run into people we know on a regular basis.  These encounters are helping us move through this season of life in ways which continues to mold and shape us. Some of these encounters are used by God to encourage our souls, others are used to help reveal the true state of our hearts.  Both are blessings.  We have noticed over time when God brings the same person across our path multiple times in a very short period of time; we ought to take notice of how He might be using them in our lives to teach us something.

The other day, my wife ran into an old friend we have known since college.  Even though we live in the same town, because our lives make their orbits in different universes, we can go years without seeing one another.  This was the second time in a matter of days they crossed paths.  This triggers the question in us, “God, what are you doing here?”

Now before I go any farther, let me say a few words about our friend, and in particular about how God speaks to her and what He allows her to see.  Right after we got married her and her husband came over for dinner.  We had known each other for several years by then and her husband had been my roommate in college. I would have said I knew her pretty well, but apparently it was not as well as I thought.  She opened up to us that night about the ways in which God speaks to her and how He has given her a gift of discernment which allows her to see spiritual realities others cannot see.  She then shared some very specific examples which honestly kind of freaked me out.

I wish I could say I took it all on faith, but my narrow Baptist mind and my limited exposure to how God works throughout the world made me much more dismissive than I care to admit.  This attitude prevailed until years later, after several missions trips and a bit of growing up, I found myself in a conversation with another woman who was sharing very similar experiences about the same events and places my friend had told me about.  I pressed into this second conversation with questions, forming them out of my knowledge of what our friend had shared years ago, and I was blown away with how these two women, who did not know one another, had seen and experienced the same things.

I share all this simply to say, when the friend who my wife ran into says she sees or senses something I have learned to pay attention.

Knowing the transition we find ourselves in, this friend was kind enough to ask how I was doing.

My wife told her I was teaching quarter time at Biola University.  I teach a class on how God forms us spiritually in community.  Sometimes I think I am getting more out of the experience than my students. It is reawakening me to what we are to be to one another as people who follow Jesus. 

She also told her about the people I am meeting with for mentorship, discipleship and spiritual direction.  The sad reality is I am having more, both in number and significance, spiritual conversations with people than working as a pastor ever afforded me to have. 

The last thing my wife shared was we are still waiting and looking for what God has next. We have been listening for God's direction and what we have heard is, "Wait, it is not ready yet." Our friend commented, "You are not alone."  She is right, we know of a number of people who God seems to be pulling out of ministry in the church for one reason or another, preparing them for something new, and who are waiting for God to reveal what comes next.  My wife noted to our friend, "God must be up to something,"  That is when this lady, who God seems to have given a gift of discernment, shared "I think revival is coming". 

Revival is an awakening from dormancy or stagnation in the life of a follower of Jesus or the church.  It embodies a spirit of humility, repentance and desire for holiness.  It is a returning to our first love.  It breaks the hold the patterns of the world have upon us.  It is a new beginning of a life lived in the obedience and freedom, which comes from embracing the abundant life we have been given.

Coincidentally, this week I had a guest speaker in my class at Talbot. He is a pastor, professor, and author who has written and taught extensively about how the church is supposed to function as a family.  I always appreciate when he comes into class because he challenges me on how I think about the church.  This week he shared with great conviction the church is a family, not a business.  It is an organism, not an organization.  He then backed up his perspective with scripture, historical evidence, and personal stories. This both inspires the students and makes the class feel uncomfortable.  Our hearts know what he says is true, but it is not always our experience.

The sad fact is, many of our churches do not seem to understand what he is talking about.  They operate more like a business than a family.  However, I think an ever increasing number of leaders do.  These are the ones God is calling out of the organization in order to give birth to something new.

It is not because they are special; it is simply because they have spent enough time doing church as business they recognize it does not give birth to the life God has intended for us or the kind of transformation into Christ-likeness that is possible.  This realization has given birth to a discontent with the status quo and a longing to see the Kingdom of God manifested in the people of God in ways no business or organizations can engender. 

These leaders have held these desires internally for so long they are now seeping out into their external world.  I do not have the time, or space, to tell you all the stores I have heard or leaders I have talked to who have willingly stepped out of their position in the church, because they know God is calling them to something far greater than maintaining an organization, or who are being moved out of their churches because they are unwilling to continue to build a business rather than the Kingdom.  When you talk to these followers of Jesus, what is often shared is they do not yet know what God is calling them to, they only know they are to be obedient to let go of what they have known in order to make space for what is coming.  

According to my friend, what is coming is revival. Be looking for it, pray for it, prepare yourselves for it, but in the meantime, "Wait, it is not ready yet."

Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord. – Psalm 27:14

This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest for your souls. - Jeremiah 6:16

No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins. - Mark 2:22

You have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen... - Revelation 2:3-5

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. - Ezekiel 37:1-5