Recently I had the privilege to spend a few days in the Hunter Valley with some other pastors. I was reflecting as I sat in front of an open fire, looking out on the winter vines: it is what we produce that makes our lives beautiful. During winter, the vines lose all their leaves; they are pruned back and left sitting, brooding and dark until spring, when new leaves begin to grow and the fruit begins to develop. During spring and summer, you don’t see the vines themselves. All you see is a blanket of green leaves and later, hanging bunches of sweet, juicy grapes. But each winter all that beauty falls away. The vines do not demand to be seen and appreciated; they do not insist that we notice and admire them. They just sit there, resting and quiet, until spring rolls on again and it is their season to produce fruit. I ask myself; do I demand that others notice and admire me, or am I content to allow the fruit of my life to define me?
I think there is something in that for all of us, don't you?
How true it is! Our fruit WILL define us regardless of what we say.
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