The Green Harvest

The Green Harvest

Hello fellow Mountain Taker. You have not heard from me in few weeks. I have not been travelling and out of touch, I have been waiting on the Lord. Because I am learning to live by the Life of Jesus in me, I am endeavoring to only speak/write when He says to do so and gives me what to say. The Lord has been speaking many things during this time, but not giving me anything to share with you. To tell you the truth this has been frustrating at times. But all learning curves have their challenges. In the process Father has been teaching me some important truths.

Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. [John 15] The job, if I can use that word, of the branch is to abide in the vine. The word “abide” means to remain stable or fixed in a place. As I have been discovering these weeks abiding begins with waiting. This makes perfect sense if you picture a branch on a grape vine. A branch is just that, a stick. Sticks hang out, sprout leaves, and eventually produce grapes. That activity and growth is not initiated by the branch but by the vine. The branch is there for the life of the vine to flow through and accomplish the results. There are seasons for fruit bearing and seasons for hanging out or waiting. For a human branch that wants to be productive this can be a major challenge!

There is another player in the picture of the vine and the branches in John 15. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches and His Father is the vinedresser. One of the chief duties of the vinedresser is pruning the branches! This week the Lord had me do a bit of study about pruning. Pruning is not only the cutting away of dead branches but live ones too. Grape vines require vigilant pruning to maintain health and fruitfulness. Pruning in the right way and the right time promotes both. There are three kinds of pruning that can be done on a grape vine. Two, cane, and spur pruning occur at the end of the growing season, usually in the winter. This pruning is a cutting back of the growth that has already been fruitful in the latest growing season and is the kind we are most familiar with. But there is another pruning that can occur during the growing season. This is referred to as the “Green Harvest”.

When the vinedresser wants to produce fuller, richer flavor in the grapes he selects the branches with the most fruit growing on them and cuts away some of the immature fruit. This is where “Green Harvest” comes from. The vinedresser does this pruning early in the season while the grapes are small and green. Using his expertise and trained eye the vinedresser knows just how much of the potentially good fruit to sacrifice to ensure an even better quality harvest. If you feel like some of your efforts have fallen to the ground, you may be in a “Green Harvest”. Fear not and remember the best fruit is still on the vine and the harvest will be more bountiful and rich!

Have a great week on your Mountain!