The writer of Ecclesiastes spoke of times and seasons, and those verses are often quoted.
There are times and seasons in serving God as well. Times when He will direct to prune back, and times when He will direct to wait as He waters the seeds that have already been planted, maturing the plants for harvest.
Just before Christian Chat Community closed its chat room doors for a hiatus back in December 2013, I was given a mental image, a vision if you like. It was of a grape vine that had been pruned to the point that the plant nearly had nothing but roots, and on appearances it looked like it was probably going to die. In fact I got this a number of days before the chat room was closed.
I am not sure how many are aware, but its standard practice in a vineyard to prune a vine like this, after the harvest has come and gone, to prepare for the next harvest.
As you can see from the vine or the plant, its pruned right back to the point where it nearly looks dead. It is certainly reduced to only the parts of aspects of the plant that are necessary for future growth. The previous fruit has been removed and harvested, and all other growth has been removed.
Well, this is the instruction I believed the Lord was giving me concerning Christian Chat Community, but the application of this in terms of what represents what, has been a process of God progressively revealing this to me. It is something I am still daily seeking God on, and it is still being revealed to me.
A few things I believe have been revealed to me already however are this:
- Remove all dead growth, or growth that was associated with the previous season, so it does not hinder growth for the coming season.
- Prune right back to part of the vine that is only necessary to begin new growth.
- Have faith in the One who provides the growth of the vine according to His ways.
Now I will admit, following this instruction has seen Christian Chat Community, seemingly lose a lot of the visible plant, or in real terms, numbers on the site. At first I had to really discipline myself to remember that just because there is no evidence of growth or fruit during the winter season, or the season that the vine appears to lie dormant, it does not mean that the vine is dead.
In the season of Spring, growth just begins to appear. Now rightfully the weather changes, and a number of other variables come into play, but it is still indeed God who created and authored the seasons. He does indeed author the changes in seasons and I am learning to just rely on that to occur.
Of course this does leave the natural mind in a conundrum. Ceasing all effort past the obedience to prune and prepare the vine for whats coming, but then its obvious who will get the glory when the new season arrives. God of course!
I have to say this is now the fourth time I have discerned that God was about the business of pruning on Christian Chat Community. Each time I have seen the site appear to start dying. Each time I have then begun to see new growth appearing that was beyond my ability to produce. I am again trusting God for this, but this time is a little different.
I have learned in the first few seasons about just growing fruit. I wasn’t too focused on the quality of the fruit because I was just overwhelmed by the learning curve of how to grow fruit! I did learn to grow fruit and at times quite a lot of fruit was grown. What I have learned from that though is this. I saw a lot of that fruit rot. I saw a lot of that fruit go to those who were not committed to laboring in this vineyard, and took it elsewhere. At the time my perspective was, we are all in Gods vineyard, so don’t misunderstand, I was happy for wherever that fruit went. That has not changed.
What has changed now is this. God is now leading me through a learning curve of being responsible for the growth in this particular vineyard. Call it Christian Chat Community and the vision and mission I was given for this site. It is a lesson in stewardship of this vineyard, and a test of the quality of fruit that will be grown here. I was under grace while on my initial learning curve of just learning how to grow in the first place, but now I am being called to account for how much eternal fruit has been produced for Christian Chat Community’s particular vineyard.
I realise a number of past members of the site will not be able to appreciate or even follow what I am saying here. But I just trust that those that cannot see have perhaps been moved on to new fields, new vineyards, or even been retired from this avenue of serving Gods Kingdom, in this little patch of the internet. To those I pray continued blessings over and am grateful to have crossed paths in the applicable season.
I must however move onto the test and completion of the coming season and am both overwhelmed and excited by the journey. I am totally trusting of the Author and Finisher of my faith, Jesus Christ and love this adventure, this journey. To Him be all GLORY AND HONOR AND PRAISE FOR ALL ETERNITY.
Blessings
dovespirit