My Father Is the Gardener by Bill Dupley

I am a gardener. I love to grow vegetables and flowers. It is part of my heritage. My Father was raised on a farm my grandmother had a one-acre vegetable garden that she fed her family from. My parents always grew vegetables. There is something very soothing about being in the garden and getting your hands in the dirt.

This year, I have experimented with vertical gardening and my squash plants are growing over eight feet high as a result. Jesus said His Father is the Gardener in John 15. He explains the role of a gardener,

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. 
 

As I care for my garden, I have learned a lot about what Jesus meant by these verses, what the role of our Heavenly Father is in our lives and how to live a fulfilled life. Now, I have to admit that these verses seem to have a bit of a negative edge to them, but I have learned that there is great truth here. I have learned how important it is to pay attention to my plants if I expect them to produce fruit and how my Heavenly Father is committed to me to help me grow. Today's blog will present some insights I have gleaned from my own gardening experiences and how they relate to what my Heavenly Father does for me.

Intimate relationship with his garden

A gardener must develop an intimate relationship with his garden to help it grow. It takes a lot of time on behalf of the gardener to do this. You can't just throw some seeds on the ground and expect it to do much. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. He wants to have an intimate relationship with us. He wants to be involved in our lives. He has all the time in the world for us. It is up to us to develop that relationship and learn to listen to Him, hear his voice and have conversations with Him about our lives.

Soil preparation

A gardener needs to prepare the soil, clean out the weeds and fertilize the dirt before he plants his seeds. He needs to know the dirt and help it be rich in nutrients. Our Heavenly Father does this as well. He helps us to see the weeds in our lives and helps us pull them out so that they will not rob us of life. Sins always destroy a person. They may seem like fun at the time, but the long-term impact is always destructive. Weeds are the same. You have to look for them and you need to get the whole root. Our Heavenly Father will help us see these issues and help us remove them. He is always trying to get our attention, but it is up to us if we listen.

Planting 

Not all seeds are planted at the same time. Some are planted in the fall, like garlic, some are in early spring, and some are in late spring. You have to plant them at the right time. Our heavenly Father knows what is best for us, and he will guide our lives if we listen to Him. Jer 29:11 declares this truth.

"11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

Our Heavenly Father is committed to giving us counsel and direction if we listen to Jim. He gives us a great promise in James 1:5 

"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

This type of wisdom includes wisdom to live and technical wisdom to solve problems.

Watering and Fertilizer

As the first sprouts appear, they need to be cared for. They need water and fertilizer to grow well; however, you can't just dump water on the plants. It will damage them, and they will die. You have to be very careful with them. You also have to look for the weeds that tend to grow up with the young sprouts, and you need to remove them gently. The key word here is gentleness. 

Our Heavenly Father is committed to helping us grow. He will not dump all kinds of laws and expectations on you. He knows you are learning to walk with Him, and He does not want to discourage you. He will help you see areas where changes are needed but not beat you up because you did not do something. 

When I first became a Christian, I was very profane. I could not say much without swearing; I was also a heavy drinker. My Heavenly Father did not get on my case about either of these things. It took a year before the Lord started to help me clean up my language; it took two years before it helped me to stop drinking. He was gentle and helped me deal with more important problems I had first. He also started to teach me His word and how to live. As a result, my life was changed and I grew in my faith. 

Protection

This year, we have a bumper crop of rabbits in our area. These bunnies tend to really enjoy the young sprouts in my garden. I have protected my garden by surrounding all the raised beds with a two-foot metal fence. It has done the job. I see the bunnies in my yard every morning, but none of them are in my garden. Our Heavenly Father is like this. There are always temptations that come against us to destroy us and rob us of life. Our Heavenly Father warns us what they are and will tell us how to avoid the problems if we listen to him. 

Growth

This year, I experienced with growing my plants vertically. Instead of growing squash on the ground, I grew them on strings tied to an overhead horizontal frame. I am also growing melons that way as well. Unlike growing vegetables on the ground, vertical growing takes a lot more time. Each day, I have to go to my garden and train the vines to go where I want them to grow. As a result my squash nines are now grown over eight feet and are now growing all over the top of my garden horizontal frames. They are already producing fruit. You can see some in the picture. 

Our Heavenly Father is like this. He wants us to grow great fruit and reach the sky. He doesn't want us to live on the ground. He wants us to live in the light and be the light of the world. To do this, he wants to be involved in your life daily, fine-tuning your life, and training your life so that you will produce the greatest amount of fruit.

Abide in the Vine

From my examples, you have probably noticed that there is a common denominator to how your Heavenly Father is the gardener in your life. That common thread is intimacy through communication. He talks about this in John 15:8

"7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

The word abide means to rest in the connection. A branch does not strive to be connected or stay connected. The vineyard gardener graphs the branch in and supports it to stay. So, there is no effort required to abide in the vine. It is only a will issue to draw on the resources of the vine to stay connected at the heart level. 

"Abide in me" means to rest in your relationship with God and draw life from Him daily. It is not doing religious activities; it is about being transparent with Him about how you feel and receiving wisdom and coaching from Him to help you each day of your life. He has told us how to live and provided us with examples. Jesus refers to these things as His commandments. 

Now, these commandments are different from the Ten Commandments mentioned in the Old Testament. In fact, the word commandment that Jesus uses here in the Greek language comes from the verb "to accomplish." It is an outcome-centric word that focuses on accomplishing a result. I found about eighty things Jesus wants us to accomplish. You can download the list here if you like. Sue and I also write a book called "The Goal: Being the Light of the World" that contains examples of what it looks like if we accomplish his commandments. The result of focusing on accomplishing these things Jesus wants us to do is that we will have joy. 

9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. John 15:9-11

Close

Hearing God is the key to developing an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. For the first fourteen years of my Christian faith, I did not know how to hear God. When I learned how to hear God, my life was changed, and my Heavenly Father started the process of developing an intimate relationship with me. I wrote a book called "The Secret Place" that describes my journey into intimacy with God that some of you might like to read.

Your Heavenly Father is your gardener, and He wants to work with you to produce the greatest fruit in your life. It is up to you to develop that relationship, and I encourage you to do so.

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