Hot Biscuits and Muscadine Jelly
Years
ago, across the street from my house was an old pecan grove, abandoned and wild;
the trees branches were full of grape vines. I just knew that I would have a
natural source of grapes in the fall. I thought of this fruit was comforting with
memories of hot biscuits and muscadine jelly. But no luck, there were grapes,
but, they were tiny, hard, and bitter.
Then,
I learned about growing good grapes and there’s nothing natural about it. Grape
vines grow in the woods. They climb trees and bushes. Left alone with plenty of
water, grape vines go wild, sending fast-growing tendrils to capture everything
in reach; so, it can climb.
If the
vine is left alone, it makes small tart grapes. They aren’t good fruit.
The
vine likes the wild. It will make beautiful leaves and long reaching branches, growing
bigger. The nature of the vine says, “What a good place to be a vine.” It doesn’t
put too much into making grapes.
To
make good fruit, the vine must struggle.
If
water’s restricted and nutrients scarce, if pruning’s hard and it’s crowed by other
vines, nature says, “This is not a good place to be a vine.” So, instead
growing big leaves and sprawling tendrils, it focuses on survival. Roots grow
deeper. It must find a better place to be a vine. The plant makes its fruit more
desirable so its seeds will be spread. To insure this, the grape vine makes bigger,
better grapes. In this struggle, the branches on the vine make much good fruit.
This is the way the best vine grower cares for his vines.
God
planted a vine in the human heart. It either grows in the care of the vine grower
or grows in sin. Growing it sin, the vine in our heart goes wild overtaking our
lives, producing little fruit. The fruit it does produce are the hard and
bitter things found in the human heart: sin, shame, hate, pettiness, greed, selfishness,
pride, resentment.
An unusual
source for theological inspiration is Saints TE, Benjamin Watson. He wrote this
about the violence in Baltimore:
"Our
problems are holistic and common to the human heart. Hatred, prejudice,
exploitation, pride, self-righteousness, secrecy, and rebellion, manifest
itself in the explosions we've seen over the last year, the last century, and
the last millennia."
Watson
is telling us, the world is full of wild vines growing in sin. A world tempted
by evil. This is the same evil that
tempted Jesus in the desert.
Wild
vines are trying to overtake the vineyard; but that’s not what God the Father wants.
God
sent the good and true vine in Jesus Christ. By God’s grace, we are part of
that vine. The true vine made strong in the struggles found in those
temptations, "the way of the cross," and his death on the cross.. God’s
love prunes the good vine, breaking away the dead branches and bitter fruit. So
in Christ, we bear the good fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Look
at your life, what fruits do you bring to the world?
Benjamin
Watson, a true witness for Christ who happens to be a pro-athlete, brings abundant
fruit to the world in a message shared on CNN,
"Be
the example.... Show the world that hearts can be changed, not just through
peace but also through the love of Christ."
These
words are a testament to his confidence in God, the vine grower. I find this
fruit truly comforting way better than hot biscuits and muscadine jelly.
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