Pruning The Vines

My precious spouse and I have recently joined a small home group to strengthen our individual relationships with Christ and to deepen our relationships with other believers. It's been a breath of fresh air for us as we've struggled through some things in the past year or so, individually, as a couple, and as members in corporate worship. These struggles have produced some fruit and some continue to cause some chafing as we are pruned and are doing some pruning ourselves.

H wasn't able to attend small group last night. I went alone and it was surely a blessing to me. We talked about the vineyard. This passage from Proverbs, specifically:
Proverbs 24: 30-34

30I went past the field of the sluggard,
past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;
31thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.
32I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:
33A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
34and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.a

What does it mean to tend the vineyard? How long does "a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest" take to destroy the vineyard? One day? One slip up? One month?

At the beginning of the discussion, we talked about the marks of a healthy church. One commentary says that the only way to measure the health of the church is by the spirituality of each member: is each member growing in Christ, becoming more sanctified?

As a group, we talked about how this applied to believers. How do we ensure we are keeping the vineyard (our lives) so that we are fruitful in spirit? Are we growing in Christ or are we resting, slumbering, not working at keeping the vineyard fruitful?

The host of small group encouraged us to choose one small thing to work on this week to draw us closer, to tend the vineyard more diligently.

Several weeks ago, I purchased Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young. As is often the case, I've read every fiction book I bought the same day, but left this book in the bag in a chair. I've debated about what I wanted to commit to doing for one week. Several ideas bounced around, but I've continued to come back to reading The Word more this week, to spend 15 minutes each day quietly reading my Bible. On the way upstairs to bathe my daughter, I grabbed Jesus Calling, thinking it would be a good diving board for my reading tonight. As M soaked, I read the introduction, to gain an understanding of the author and why she wrote this book (Do you find that as helpful as I do? I do that in most texts.). Then I opened to the entry for today.

The very first sentence for today convicted me, "Worship Me (God) by living close to Me."
Deep breath. Tears filled my eyes. Okay, Lord...speak a little more clearly to me, please. How better to tend the vineyard than to LIVE CLOSE TO GOD? The entry goes on to remind us that God's original design for His people was that His people would live near Him, commune with Him, worship in accord with Him.

One of my favorite parts in this entry is: "Although you may feel as if you are going nowhere in this world, your spiritual journey is another matter altogether, taking you along steep, treacherous paths of adventure. That is why walking in Light of My Presence is essential to keep you from stumbling." Or is essential to maintain the vineyard.

This past year has been a year of challenging pruning for me. Last summer, the Lord and I had wonderful communion together as we wrestled through some of my issues. Instead of continuing the struggle to grow closer, I took time for a little sleep, a little slumber, some folding of the hands as I chose to rest. My vineyard is full of thistles and thorns. It is not a beautiful place in which I cherish my time with the Lord. It's time to tended to the vineyard so that I can bear fruit for the Lord.