I was doing my devotions today and thought I would pass on to you the entry from today's date.
My Father is the gardener (John 15:1)
It is a comforting thought that trouble, in whatever form it comes to us , is a heavenly messenger that brings us something frmo God. Outwardly it may appear painful or even destructive, but inwardly its spiritual work produces blessings. Many of the richest blessings we have inherited are the fruit of sorrow or pain. We should never forget that redemption, the world's greatest blessing, is the fruit of the world's greatest sorrow. And whenever as time of deep pruning comes and the knife cuts deeply and the pain is severe, what an inexpressible comfort it is to know: "My Father is the gardener."
John Vincent, a Methodies Episcopal bishop of the late ninetheenth and early twentieth centuries and a leader of the Sunday school movement in America, once told of being in a large greenhouse where clusters of lucious grapes were hanging on each side. The owner of the greenhouse told him, "When the new gardener came here, he said he would not work with the vines unless he could cut them completely down to the stalk. I allowed him to do so, and we had no grapes for two years, but this is now the result."
There is rich symbolism in this account of the pruning process when applied to the Christian life. Pruning seems to be destroying the vine, and the gardener appears to be cutting everything away. Yet he sees the future and know that the final result will be the enrichment of the life of the vine, and the greater abundance of fruit.
September 19th Streams in th Desert by L.B. Cowman
