Have you ever wondered why life has to be so hard sometimes? This past spring my sister and I took a girls trip to Sonoma to see the beauty of wine country. During a vineyard tour I saw a glimpse into the beauty of challenges and obstacles.  

I was fresh out of a very challenging ministry experience and was working on processing why I was having to navigate a season of an unclear next step and overcoming the hurt of human unkindness. As the tour guide was showing us these newly budding grapevine branches, she began sharing how the best wine came out of the most rocky and inhospitable ground. The harder the vine had to struggle the more fruit would be produced.  If there was no struggle in getting through the challenging ground, the vine would only produce leaves.  There would be very few or poor quality grapes. The vines would be full of lush green leaves, but would not be fulfilling their true purpose – to create amazing fruit. For how often scripture talks about vines and fruit, I was hit right between the eyes with the correlation.  

Jesus tells us in John 15:4-5, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (ESV)

I have read this passage many times. As Christ followers we all say, “Yes Lord!  May I stay close to you so I can bear much fruit.” When I learned about the challenges the rocky soil in a vineyard creates I looked at Jesus’ words in a different context. Bearing rich, sweet, and bountiful fruit comes from challenges along the way. Jesus, as the vine, and us as the attached branches are pushing through the rocky soil in to receive the nutrients we need to bear much fruit. The branches are not digging through the hard dirt without being attached to the vine. Sit in that for a second…

We are not going to traverse adversity alone. Jesus is with us. Although it feels hard and we may wonder where he is in the challenges we face, we are never detached from the vine. He is helping us get everything we need to bear much fruit from our branch rather than just some leaves from which the sweetness of a Pinot Noir or delicious grape juice would never flow. 

Jesus goes on to tell us the result of us bearing much fruit in John 15:8, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”(ESV) God is glorified and we prove to be His disciples. The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22) We learn and grow in this fruit through Jesus walking through the challenges of this side of eternity with us. I typically want that fruit, but want it to just appear rather than have to grow it. Jesus loves me too much to let that be the case. Look at what Jesus says in the next verse, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” (John 15:9 – ESV). We are called to be the branch that abides in the vine because that vine desires us to abide in His love.  

Mull This Over… I encourage you to mull over the fact that Jesus loves us enough to grow us into fruit bearers, even when the journey is through rocky soil. Are you abiding in his love in the midst of whatever the situation?