Today’s Scripture Reading (November
30, 2013): Isaiah 27
There is a
yard close to where I live that often seems to be allowed to grow wild. The
grass is rarely cut. In fact, by looking at the yard there is very little grass
there – most of what is growing is simply an assortment of weeds. It is evident
that no one really cares for the lawn. But just down the street is another
house. This house is the reverse of the first house (although admittedly often
the two houses can take on a very similar look from a distance.) At the second
house, the owners have decided to use their front lawn as a garden, growing
mostly a crop of potatoes. The front lawn has been used in this way for several
years, Both houses can look overgrown at times, but the first is because of
neglect, while the second is because of a carefully followed vision for the
yard. The potato plants are carefully planted in neat rows in the spring, and
then weeded throughout the season until the potatoes are ready to be harvested
in the fall. But the garden, unlike the unkempt lawn, is a result of someone
who cares greatly for the lawn.
Life
requires care. It is maybe one of things that we miss – or that we forget. Life
does not just happen. It needs to be cultivated. As I speak with people it
sometimes seems that the real problem that they are suffering under is that
their lives have grown out of control; life has not been given the benefit of
the care that it needs. And the result of the lack of care is that things just
seem to happen. The events grow like weeds in a lawn that no one has looked
after. Rather than being neatly ordered, they take on a life of their own
destroying the appearance and ruining any predictability.
God asks
Isaiah to look at life – and all of its components, including nationality and
religious identity – as a vineyard or a garden. A vineyard, much like a garden,
needs to be cared for if it is to thrive and produce fruit. It is an uncaring
vineyard owner that would allow the weeds that want to intrude on the boundaries
of the vineyard choke the fruit from the vines - or who would allow a lack of
water threaten the life of the vines themselves. But God identifies himself as
the caring owner of the vineyard. His desire is to protect the vineyard from
all of the things that could intrude the health of the vines. And so he
protects the vines and waters them – he cares for the vineyard. But the
implication here goes beyond what God does with the vineyard. Although God
cares for the vines, there is an expectation that the vines want to grow and
produce fruit. Unless there is an internal drive inside of the vine to produce
grapes, then the vineyard will remain a barren place - totally absent of fruit.
Life simply
requires care. There are enough things in our daily lives that desperately want
to steal our life away from us. Our reality is that there should be a tag on
each one of us that simply reads “handle with care” – because we need to be
reminded of that continually, and reminded that those who around us are also in
need of as much care as we are.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
28
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