It’s Time to tend our Vineyard!!

By Helen Jesze, 6^th June 2020

“… my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept,”

Song of Solomon 1, 6 KJV

I stared disconsolately through the living-room window at my overgrown garden! Weeds were all over the place and sprouting up between the slabs on the paths. Spanish Bluebells, Foxgloves and Rosebay Willow Herbs were threatening to overtake every spare patch of earth, and had grown so tall round my rotary-dryer, that they got in the way when I hung the washing out. Not physically being able to do the gardening as I used to, we had started to employ a garden maintenance man to come every few weeks to keep things trim. But because of lock down, he and also the man who cut the hedges could not come. The above verse kept coming to me. I did not have a vineyard, but I had a garden!

My garden was not as bad as the photo here, and there were also many types of beautiful flowers, which gave me great joy, but it was time to take things in hand! So with lock down somewhat eased, this week the gardener, wearing a mask and gloves, came to attack the weeds! It is already looking a lot better. There is still a lot more to be done but we are on our way!

The young lady who spoke about the vineyards in this verse, had been forced to look after the vineyards of her brothers, so her own space was neglected. She had no time or strength to work there. But how often in our lives, our own physical garden or the garden of our spirit-man has been neglected. We have allowed things in, which threaten to undermine our purity and strength, making excuses and deliberately closing our ears when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, and before we know it, those tiny seeds are shooting up and choking the spiritual life out of us.

To make things worse, we often look at somebody else’s life and begin to criticise them, thinking we would not do or say what they are doing or saying, forgetting our own ‘garden’. Jesus once told about a man who was trying to get a splinter out of someone’s eye, but finding it difficult because he had a great plank of wood in his eye! Jesus called this person a hypocrite.

This reminds me of a lady, whom we will call “Mrs. A” who was looking out of her kitchen window one day, watching her neighbour “Mrs. B” hang out her washing. “My, just look at that washing!” Mrs. A grumbled. “It looks as though it hasn’t even been washed! Really grey, not white at all!” Later in the day, Mrs. A went into her garden and glanced over at Mrs. B’s washing. To her amazement, she saw it was sparkling white! How could that be, she thought?! But she got her answer when she looked out of her kitchen window again. It was not Mrs. B’s washing that was at fault, but her own dirty windows! I hope she went and cleaned them afterwards!

It has been said that when we point our finger at someone in accusation, 3 fingers and a thumb point back at ourselves. This is a trap we have all fallen into sometimes, but the Lord is calling us to look at our own lives and get them in order, letting Him work in us at a deeper level. Our own vineyard or garden must regularly be examined. Little weeds become big weeds! Let’s stop looking over the fence at someone else’s garden or life, but concentrate on our own. With the measure that we judge, we will be judged. Let’s pray together:

Heavenly Father, forgive me for neglecting the garden of my heart, letting so many weeds of bad attitudes and criticism take root and choke my spiritual life. Cleanse me in the blood of your Son, and cause the Fruit of the Spirit to take root and develop, blooming to make my life beautiful in your sight. Thank you there is always a new start with you. Holy Spirit, show me where I have only taken off the top of the weeds and left the roots still in the soil, waiting to grow again. I give you permission to destroy every bit with the power of the Word of God, going deep into my spirit! Father, I want to bring glory to your Name! Help me to do this, in the Name of Jesus, I pray! Amen.