I had a blackberry vine that I tended as I grew up. No one else was interested in gardening, but I loved this plant, even as it pricked me and caused me pain and tears and sweat and time. Every weekend I would water it, even after my brother had, (for I knew it needed more water!), and there were many nights that I came to this plant to sing and dance and cry. Many nights I found my dear cat snuggled in a gap she made--a little nest to keep her safe. I was jealous sometimes of her fur coat that resisted the cold and the thorns that both tore my skin. Hah. Well, maybe not the cold (it hardly ever lowers past the freezing point, even in the darkest winters).
Which reminds me that before the blackberry bush, we had a tomato plant. Since this was a very spacious and flat area of soil, both were able to grow well, though the blackberry was quick to utilize the adjacent wall and lattice to optimize its growing space. I detest the smell of tomatoes. But still I worked the soil, weeding in between both tomatoes and blackberries, knowing that my father would be pleased with both fruits, regardless of which pleased me more.
Before either the blackberry vine or the tomato plant, I had a sunflower that I grew in a cup, which quickly took to the sunny patch that the blackberry and tomato would eventually abide in. It seemed to me that the sunflower was my competition. We'd each grow inches each week, it seemed, and my parents chronicled my height with the yardstick they'd planted alongside the sunflower. I remember it was about that time that I wanted to start learning how to spit, so I asked whether we could harvest these sunflower seeds. I remember my father saying we couldn't, and something about the seeds needing to be roasted. I didn't understand much, and soon the sunflower was gone. I don't know where he went, nor did I understand why he had to leave.
Now both sunflower and blackberry/tomato patches are desolate, and my job is to till and clear the soil.
My mother really wanted a tomato plant, though, for homegrown vegetables. She says they taste better, but I'm still averse to the smell of tomatoes. Which is quite unfortunate, I know. She told me to plant the tomato plant on the other side of the fence that separated the large lot of the previous plants and the shaded area of our backyard. I didn't think this was a good idea, since tomatoes, like other vines, enjoy lots of sunlight. But I did as she said, and then I left for the Czech Republic, doubtful of the plant's survival without my care, the care of the gardener.
When I returned from the Czech Republic, 40 days later (not counting the flights), the plant was overgrown, and the smell traveled with me to the shower and then wafted in my room to strangle my sleep. The air is thick and musty and a ba'ash [Hebrew transliteration, "stench"] to my nostrils.
Nowadays, the square lot of my youth and of the vines is still desolate, and I must confess, reader, that I have not been faithful in tending my garden as I ought. The blackberries, though, did not die out when they were given an ultimatum with the tomatoes to be stomped into oblivion when I would clear the square lot. They were cast into the shadows of the shady part of my backyard, and they thrive now amongst the weeds of the shade. Away from the sun, they still manage to catch glimpses of the light's power in the evening, when sunlight drifts through cracks, setting some plants into upright devotion. It's beautiful to see them, this remnant bringing forth fruit with such little faith in the life they receive. Their fruit makes me smile even as the thorns pierce my hands.
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Yesterday, I drove Christopher grocery shopping, since he doesn't have a car to carry stuff. We stopped at H-Mart and found that blackberries were $0.79 / 6 oz. carton, which is a HUGE deal! Or maybe it's a minuscule deal, since it's such a low cost. I've never understood that conjunctive adjective. My mother complained that they're overripe, but to me they're as sweet as a sunrise, promising a good day. Yet they were also a bittersweet reminder that I have a job that I cannot shirk, and it's almost as if God is saying, "Remember how sweet that fruit is? Remember the faithfulness required to produce such sweetness? Remember the tart, the smart, the heart of the lesson? Remember how I planted you? Remember how I gave you life and tended you as a vine?"
See from His head, His hands, His crown
sorrow and love flow mingled down?
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
or thorns compose so rich a crown?
My fruit must be sweet to demonstrate the living waters my Father the Husbandman pours out on me, to reflect the gloriously bright fire of the Holy Spirit that warms my frame and my heart, and to attest to the True Vine that my Father grafts me into, that I would be a pleasing aroma and the scent of life to those dying branches and dying seeds.
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Hear the words of Jesus:
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,
while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes/cleans
so that it will be even more fruitful.
You are already pruned/clean
because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in me, and I will 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.
I am the vine; you are the branches.
If a man remains in me and I in him,
he will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing.
If anyone does not remain in me,
he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; {Psalm 1}
such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
This is to my Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be my disciples.
As the Father has loved me,
so have I loved you.
Now remain in my love.
If you obey my commands,
you will remain in my love,
just as I have obeyed my Father's commands
and remain in His love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and that your joy may be complete.
My command is this:
Love each other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
You did not choose me, but I chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.
Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.
This is My command:
Love each other.
If the world hates you,
keep in mind that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world,
it would love you as its own.
As it is,
you do not belong to the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you.
Remember the words I spoke to you:
'No servant is greater than his master.' (John 13:16)
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.
If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
They will treat you this way because of My name,
for they do not know the One who sent me. {Note: Jesus assumes majority disapproval!}
If I had not come and spoken to them,
they would not be guilty of sin.
Now, however,
they have no excuse for their sin.
He who hates me hates my Father as well.
If I had not done among them what no one else did,
they would not be guilty of sin.
But now they have seen these miracles,
and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law:
'They hated me without reason.' (Psalms 35:19, 69:4)
When the Counselor comes,
whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father,
He will testify about me.
And you also must testify,
for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 15 (NASB)
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