Motivation

   

   When I read this quote by our old buddy Albert it made me pause and look at what my motivations are for following the life path I have chosen.
   Sinners are a "sorry lot".
   Yes the fear of separation from God, or the hope of spending eternity in His presence are valid motivations to be "good".
   Should not our motivation for that goodness be our deep and consuming love for God?


   "Love your neighbor". "Love your enemy". "Love yourself". We can get our heads wrapped around these, But "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind and soul"...
   Do you feel motivated?
   Praise the Name of the Lord.
   That's a start.

   

Growing In The True Vine

John 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.


    Here along Flathead Lake in Northwest Montana we have our famous orchards and vineyards. When the cherry trees are in bloom it is a truly spectacular site, But I have always been drawn to the site of the vineyards with their symmetrical rows and the vines trained along their frames and supports.
   I would love to have a small vineyard someday because the growing of vines strikes me as an exercise in loving patience. Many expert growers go to the pains to count every bud so as to know where exactly to prune.
   The main reasons for pruning is to control the crop size, the quality of the grapes and to keep the growth of the vines attractive and manageable. But primarily it is the quantity and quality of the fruit the Gardener is after. And while pruning helps with fruitfulness it is the strength and stability of the individual branches connection to the main vine that is the source of the fruitfulness.

   In the Hampton Court Gardens in England there is a single vine, planted in 1768, that has grown to 120 feet long. The crop is usually harvested in September. It takes the gardener nearly three weeks to harvest all the grapes. The crop averages 500 to 700 bunches of grapes that weigh 507 to 705 lb. The largest recorded crops of grapes from the Vine were 1,800 bunches in 1798 and 2,245 bunches in 1807. What I find significant is that the main vine is 12 feet around the base. These are obviously healthy branches attached to a magnificent vine.
   When Jesus spoke of being the "true vine" I have been envisioning a vine as mighty as this "Old Vine" in England. The branches are truly abiding in that great life source.
   But what about the pruning? In our lives it is God who cleans away that what is not going to produce fruit, but the pruning sometimes can be painful. Sometimes he removes an aspect of our lives that we are so attached to that it causes such profound pain it is difficult see the hand of God in it.
   I am going through a season in my life where I am confronted with a situation that is producing fear and depression. But I am trusting the hand of God on my life. He is a patient and loving Gardener. He is nurturing me; preparing me for a fruitful harvest. As for now I grow.