To Sweetness and Beyond

Once upon a time a very happy couple moved to Tennessee and had a hay day planting fruit trees, more fruit trees, fruit bushes, and grape vines. The lushness of the soil compared to the site of their previous home wowed them, as did the plentiful rain. The couple? None other than us, Dennis and Janine. Life was good on our mini fruit farm.

While we waited for our fruit to come in, we made sure to weed, spray for pests, and, of course, fertilize. Our efforts paid off—for the most part. We began to see fruit on bushes the second year, on trees and grape vines the third. But something wasn't quite right. Our "sweet" grapes were more sour than sweet when they came in the third year, and the fourth year? Sheesh! They went from bad to worse! The pitiful handful of grapes were so miniscule you almost needed a magnifying glass to see them, never matured, and were impossible to harvest. Every other fruit tree or bush was doing well. Was there some kind of defect in the grape vines we got?

Turns out, the root of the problem did not lay in the quality of the vines as much as in the quality of their care. Sadly, we learned that we had "loved" on the vines a little too much for their own good. As we read more on the subject (something which perhaps should have been done earlier, but who would have thought that grape vines were intrinsically so very very different from our other fruit plants?), we learned that grape vines are in a rather unique category when it comes to care.

Instead of the rich soil that promotes healthy growth in other fruit trees and bushes, grape vines thrive in moderate to poor soil! The reality is that this kind of soil forces the roots to struggle, to reach far down for the nurture they need. When they struggle in this way, then, and only then, will their grapes be rich, lush—and sweet. By "helping" our little grape vines with enthusiastic fertilizing, we were ensuring their extremely limited and very sour production.

Once, in a clinic where my mom worked as a nurse, she made the observation to a colleague that it seemed surprising that a certain sweet couple who frequented the clinic should have such disagreeable offspring. When those kids came to the clinic, everyone had to be on the lookout. Mom's friend looked at her, arched a brow, and deadpanned, "And that is exactly why those kids are such a handful. Those parents are so sweet, they sugar coat everything for their children, sweeten any discipline—and there you have the result. Totally spoiled obnoxious children." Just like our grapes, too much fertilizer (sweetness) paradoxically produced completely disappointing results.

Didn't Jesus say that He was the vine and we are the branches? He didn't liken us to an apple tree or a blackberry bush. No, He compared us to a grape vine. A grape vine that has to suffer in order to grow strong, healthy roots. A grape vine that has to suffer to grow something more than mere showy leaves. A grape vine that has to suffer to grow lush, sweet fruit.

So our suffering is not happenstance or dished out by a God who does not care for us. On the contrary, it is exactly because He loves us that He has allowed it in our lives. It has a divine and holy purpose. To be all that Jesus would have us be in this world, we must walk the path He walked, we must walk down our own personal and unique via dolorosa, and drink of His cup of suffering.

Suffering. The road to sweetness—and greatness in God's Kingdom.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit ... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing ... Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (John 15:1-8).

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Hebrews 12:11).