The Bottomless Well

Re-reading a few of my last posts I see that I've overdone it in the whining department.  Before it gets to be a habit I'm going to focus on more positive things.

In My Father's Vineyard by Wayne Jacobsen always encourages me to look for the many parallels between a healthy vineyard and a healthy self, the intent being that sweet wine will result from both.

Mr. Jacobsen has brought me from Winter to Summer in the vineyard and the pressure is on to keep the grapes healthy through the season between promise and harvest.  His boyhood home and the site of his father's vineyard, the San Joaquin Valley, is irrigated desert and from mid- May until November there is little or no rain.  I am encouraged by the author to view myself in this season as the root of the vine with my primary need being the provision of nourishment in order that I may support this plant well.

"In a farmer's way of thinking, if a vine dies for lack of water, it's the farmer's fault. He is responsible to provide sufficient water.  Spiritually, however, the responsibility for how deep our roots plunge belongs to us.  God always provides sufficient water, but we must develop roots that go deep enough to absorb the water, to outlast the heat of summer."-Wayne Jacobsen (In My Father's Vineyard).

I'm reminded that I can expect "arid and brutal times", in the words of Jacobsen, as I proceed through the seasons of my life, but these times are not to be viewed as defeating.  Rather, they are to be considered as simply another necessary season in order to produce fruit.

"Roots that grow deep are not affected by temporal circumstances.  They can weather heat and pressure, drawing from God's life with the same joy as if it were raining in Spring."-Wayne Jacobsen.

So, it appears that the responsibility of drinking from the never-ending source of nourishment is mine.  If the well seems dry, I haven't gone deep enough.  My mandate from Mr. Jacobsen is to develop the deep root structure that results from "an abiding friendship with Jesus". 

Writing this blog has kept me in the abiding friendship to which Mr. Jacobsen refers, and for that I am grateful.  My Source of nourishment is there for the taking, regardless of the season of my journey. God promises that my vineyard need never run out of water.

"It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."-Jeremiah 17:8 (NIV).

"I, The Lord, watch over it; I water it continually."-Isaiah 27:3 (NIV).

On the health front:

It wasn't a great day yesterday but today is new and we'll see what it brings😊