Day 6: And my Father is the gardener
With one hand still on his chest, and the other holding a torch, Jesus surveys the group of tired disciples. Noticing Mary Magdalene and a small group of women quietly arriving, he motions for them to join. As the group shifts to include them, he thinks to himself how much everyone has changed in the past three years, and how much he loves them. Perhaps he says again,
“I am the true vine."
Then, he raises his torch to illuminate the small vineyard where they have stopped. He notices how well it has been tended, and with a little smile, he points heavenward and says,
“and my Father is the Gardener.”
The disciples nod and smile, too. Even fishermen and tax collectors know what it takes to tend the vines.
Vineyard Metaphor
The word gardener here comes from two words in Greek. The first one, that means land or earth, is derived from the word for soil. The second indicates labor or work. So, the gardener is one who works the land.
In a vineyard, the gardener, or the vineyard manager, is the one who makes decisions regarding three environmental aspects of terroir, which largely determine the flavor profile of a wine. Choosing varietals that grow best in the surrounding climate, reading the topography to determine the direction in which to plant the vines based on the slope of the hill or the direction of the valley, and knowing the classes of soil in the region all influence the health and harvest of the vines.
A wise vineyard manager understands all these variables and chooses a varietal that will flourish, producing fruit that makes the best wine with its specific circumstances.
Beyond the decisions about what, how, and where to plant, a vineyard manager is responsible to give the vine everything it needs to be healthy and productive. A new vine is watered, fertilized, trellised, pruned, and loved for many years before it yields a harvest worthy of wine. A vineyard manager is patient, hard-working, and focused on one thing: fruitful vines.
The story of a gardener tending a vineyard is long. It’s a daily decision to work the land and care for the vines for a future purpose. Under the careful hand of the gardener, the vines slowly come to maturity.
Then, as the seasons turn, and the years go by, the gardener makes new assessments and decisions about the health of the vine and what it needs to produce the most beautiful fruit.
Reflection and Meditation
Does fruitfulness seem far away some days?
There’s a reason for that! The rhythm of life in the vine is much longer than our modern technological world would lead us to believe.
What would it look like to stop rushing towards fruitfulness and focus on growing slowly under the careful hand of God, our attentive and wise Gardener, trusting the wisdom of his Love?
Thank him for all the ways you see him care for you. Get specific and name each one you can think of.
“Trust in the Slow Work of God
Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress
that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you;
your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,
let them shape themselves, without undue haste.
Don’t try to force them on,
as though you could be today what time
(that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will)
will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give Our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.”