This past weekend, my parents and I took a mini-holiday there. Peering out the window on the drive back, I saw rows upon rows of grape vines. They didn't look like much though. In the wintertime, the bare branches seemed more dead than alive, like twigs hanging limp from the fence. Buried beneath a layer of snow, it's difficult to imagine these fields producing fruit that can be made into award-winning wines.
What struck me most though was that there were no exceptions. Every single plant in those acres of fields had to obey the season. It wasn't like one plant stayed green and remained fruitful while the others dropped their leaves and lay bare. Winter was their time to rest, and they cannot escape it. Neither do they resist it.
In the same way, I think God brings "winters" into every person's life. It cannot be escaped and it best not be resisted.
4 comments:
Wow. Beautifully put! I was just doing my devos and the passage was from John 15 so your thoughts came to life for me. So true that there are seasons in life...and God uses them far beyond what we can imagine to teach us and draw us closer to Him. I trust this winter will be restful for you. Praying for you.
~Ruthie
Ruthie, thank you for leaving a comment! I keep meaning to read the book "Secrets of the Vine" - I think there's so much treasure in that passage. Praying that you would be abiding in Him as well.
Dear Olive, this post reminds me of a time of depression in my own life early this year, when God had comforted me with the words from Madame Guyon's Song of the Bride. And I think these words are for you too... "The effects of winter... present a living and truthful image of this operation of God... During the entire winter the trees appear dead; they are not so in reality, but, on the contrary, are submitting to a process that preserves and strengthens them. For what is the effect of winter? It contracts their exteriors, so that the sap is not uselessly expended, and it concentrates their strength on the root, so that new roots are pushed out and old ones are strengthened and nourished and forced deeper into the soil... It is through this process that the operation of God seems to tarnish the soul on the exterior; in actuality, it indicates no new defects in the soul, but only an uncovering of the old ones so that, by being openly exposed, they may be better healed."
Dear W, that is beautiful. Thank you and bless you.
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