I was going to write about how disappointing 2012
has been. I was going to go on and on about how someone who saw hope and
possibility in everything finally got to his breaking point through the loss of
friendships, a ministry he deeply cared for, and various other unwelcome
changes and revelations along the way. I
was going to say how I am praying that 2013 is better; but isn’t that our hope
every new year? We hope and pray and make resolutions so that the next year
will be even better than the last. All that said, I praise God for the
blessings he’s brought not only in my life, but in the lives of the people I
love.
This year has been a banner year for one of my
oldest and dearest friends. I have watched – sometimes from close by, sometimes
from afar – as his life has been transformed by the opportunity to live his
dream. I have watched other friends find love, get married, start families, buy
their first homes, and have even celebrated as a couple of them released their
first books. Praise God for his goodness!
This past year taught me that I could fall in love
again after years of being single, and that the loss of that love was not the
end, but the beginning of something else. While it did not last, the
relationship taught me plenty about the things that I want in someone I plan to
spend the rest of my life with and about the things within me that I need to be
aware of in order to one day be a good husband. 2012 also brought a tremendous
amount of healing in my relationship with my parents; something I am infinitely
thankful for.
I’ve spent too long stewing and
thinking about everything that didn’t go as I had planned or hoped for… all the
things and people that I’d considered so important in my life that simply weren’t
there any longer. Those thoughts could drive someone mad. Today, as I was driving
back from running an errand, John 15 came to mind.
I am the true grapevine, and my Father
is the gardener. He cuts off every
branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do
bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given
you. Remain in me, and I
will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the
vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
Yes, I am the vine; you are the
branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For
apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch
and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. (John
15:1-6, NLT)
As I was preparing to write this, I cam across a post from a pastor regarding that passage, and it really struck a chord in me:
Jesus is telling us that the Father deals with believers in the same way
that gardeners deal with grape vines. Any extra “material” in our lives –
“stuff” which does not contribute to the purpose for which He made us – is to
be removed by God. This is not the most comfortable word-picture I have ever
heard, because it sounds a little painful. To admit the truth, I like some of
the things in my life that don’t contribute anything to my fruitfulness as a
Christian. Also, from personal experience, I have to admit that God’s process
of pruning me has been painful at times.
If you have never seen a grape vine in the autumn after pruning, it is
shocking. A pruned grape vine looks like it has been destroyed. This isn’t a
haircut – it is open heart surgery. The vine, if it could talk might say, “this
doesn’t feel like just pruning – it feels like damage.” And it continues to
look and feel devastated throughout the winter. But as extreme as it appears,
the ultimate result is that when the growing season returns, the branches put
out more and better fruit than before. It is in fact, made healthier by this
pruning.
When I say that I pray 2013 is a better year for you, my friends, I mean that I hope that if you are already living your dream that God will continue to flood your life with blessings beyond anything you can ask or imagine. I pray that He shows you His dreams for you, which I can guarantee are much bigger than the dreams you have for yourself. If you, like me, have struggled to see the beauty in the trials of this past year, I pray that when you look in the mirror, you don’t see damage or devastation. Instead, may you recognize how God is currently blessing your life even in the worst of time, and may you see God’s handiwork and a life that is being perfected for His use. I pray that 2013 will be your growing season, and that this time next year, you can bask in the blessings of the fruit He has produced in you. The best is yet to come!
May His peace and grace be with you in this coming year and throughout the ages.
Rob
