Vineyards

Isaiah 5:1-6 (New Living Translation)
A Song about the Lord’s Vineyard

Now I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a rich and fertile hill.
He plowed the land, cleared its stones,
and planted it with the best vines.
In the middle he built a watchtower
and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.
Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,
but the grapes that grew were bitter.

Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah,
you judge between me and my vineyard.
What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I have not already done?
When I expected sweet grapes,
why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?

Now let me tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will tear down its hedges
and let it be destroyed.
I will break down its walls
and let the animals trample it.
I will make it a wild place
where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed,
a place overgrown with briers and thorns.
I will command the clouds
to drop no rain on it.

This passage of the Old Testament of the Bible makes me think of fruitfulness. Out of gratitude for what the owner of the vineyard has done, I want to be a vineyard that produces fruit; and in particular I want to produce sweet grapes. This is true of my own life but it is equally true for the church of which I am a part, the community in which I live, the country of which I am a citizen, and the world as a whole.

God has given us much: He has prepared the land and cleared it of obstructions to growth, He has planted it with the best of vines, He has guarded it and kept the vineyard safe, He has built the structures that will take care of the fruit of the land. Now He waits for the harvest. What will I produce? What will we produce?