Chapter One
A Spiritual Harvest
* * *
The train creaked to a stop. A young woman standing ready at
the door gazed out over the rooftop of the railway station to the
golden hills of Tuscany. "How beautiful it is!" she sighed. The
bustling cities of the north were behind her now. Finally, she
was home.
Descending to the wooden platform, she felt her weariness
slip away. Eagerly, she scanned the sea of faces until she saw
him. Her father, a tall, bronzed man, was easy to find in a
crowd, and she had sought him out many times. When she
caught his eye, he rushed toward her, arms outstretched, and
wrapped her in an embrace.
"Welcome, my beautiful girl!" he cried. "I've missed you
so much!"
It didn't take long to have her bags sent on ahead. As usual,
her father wanted to take her on foot out of the village and up
the twisting lanes that led to their home. Leaving the station,
they walked hand in hand, talking and laughing. He asked
about her life in the city. She asked about the approaching
harvest. And as they talked and walked, she reveled in the
warm sun of an Italian autumn.
At the crest of the hill her eyes fell upon a familiar scene-her
father's vineyard, rolling away in neatly tended rows. She
had grown up following her father as he worked up and down
those rows. And since childhood she'd known that her father
was well-respected throughout the region as a champion
vinedresser. But at her first view of the vineyard, now heavy
with fruit, her breath caught in her throat.
"Papa!" she exclaimed. "I've never seen such a promising
crop!" She walked down a row to look more closely. Huge
clusters of dark, satiny grapes hung from every branch.
Turning back to her father, she saw the pleasure on his
face. "You must be very proud," she said. "I still remember the
wretched state of these plants when we first came here. How
diligently you have worked all these years to produce such an
incredible yield!"
She tucked her arm in his, steering them toward the house.
"I'm so glad to be home to celebrate this harvest with you!" she
said. This was the most anticipated season in the vineyard, and
she didn't want to miss any of it. She could hardly wait.
* * *
The young woman in our story has, for many years,
observed the tending of her father's vineyard. She
is well acquainted with all that is required to
produce a harvest. And she knows how much a great
harvest of prize-winning grapes will mean to her father.
You, on the other hand, may never have walked through
a vineyard or even seen grapes hanging from a branch. For
that reason, in the chapters to come we'll revisit our young
friend and her father as the grape harvest approaches. I want
you to feel the sun, smell the earth, and touch the rough
leaves of the grape plant. I want you to celebrate with them
as they anticipate a bumper crop.
Why should you think about
grapes?
Because the truths I want to explore
with you in this little book, based on
Jesus' teachings in John 15, have a lot to
do with grapes and how they grow.
The vineyard we're interested in is a
spiritual picture rather than an actual
place. But I promise that the lessons you learn there will
be so real to you that they will change your life forever.
I can make such a promise because our teacher is Jesus,
and His words are part of His last conversation with His
friends on the night before He died. What He said surprised
His disciples. I'm sure it wasn't what they wanted to hear.
But Jesus knew it was what they desperately needed to hear.
Otherwise they would never experience the abundant life
God had in mind for them.
Abundance-a life as full as possible of God's best. It's
the picture God has in mind for us, too. Unfortunately, if we
don't understand what God does to bring that wonderful
harvest about, we can actually work
against His good hand in our lives
without ever knowing it.
By the time you finish this little
book, some important principles of
how abundance happens in your life
will become clear, and you'll learn
how to cooperate with your Father's
hand-for your greatest fulfillment, and for His glory.
For example, you'll discover how He intervenes when
sin is holding you back. You'll understand how He responds
when your own good intentions are leading you astray.
You'll learn, perhaps for the first time, just how much He
longs to enjoy intimate fellowship with you, and you'll have
a clear idea of what you need to do to make that relationship
happen. And finally, you'll know for certain that you can
expect more lasting results from your life than you ever
thought possible.
Listen in now as Jesus talks quietly with His friends
over dinner.
Dinner Revelations
It is the night of the Passover. Jesus and His inner circle of
followers are eating together in the upper room. They have
much to celebrate. The events leading up to this meal have
confirmed to the disciples that Jesus is the long-awaited
Messiah. They're convinced that by
tomorrow, if not before, Jesus will
give the word and usher in His new
kingdom. And it's a kingdom they
can't wait to be part of.
The atmosphere is electric. But
then Jesus makes a string of disturbing
announcements: One of the disciples
will betray Him. One will deny Him. He is leaving, and they
can't follow. And the final, shattering disclosure: that "the
ruler of this world is coming"-and it will not be Him.
The men are speechless. Just moments ago they were
poised for a great future. Now Jesus seems to be saying that
it will never happen. All their dreams and plans have turned
into a crushing disappointment.
At the end of the evening, Jesus says, "Arise, let us go
from here." As He leads them out into the night, questions
and doubts swirl in their minds. By the light of lamps and
torches, they follow Him quietly through the winding streets
of Jerusalem, down to a lower gate of the city, and out into
the Kidron Valley.
Here, they walk through ancient
vineyards, carefully tended for generations
and famously productive. Jesus
and His followers find their way
through the rows of vines on their way
to their destination-the Garden of
Gethsemane on a nearby hill.
It is in this very vineyard, many
scholars believe, that Jesus paused to deliver His parting
message to His disciples. And here, as He so often did,
Jesus used an earthy, familiar illustration to impart timeless
spiritual truths. Before, He had talked about water, lambs,
coins, runaway sons, and bread. This time Jesus talked
about fruit. "I am the vine, you are the branches," He said
(John 15:5).
As He talked, I believe He was pointing to a branch, to
leaves, to a vine. But He was looking right at His friends.
With every word, He was thinking of His love for them, of
the challenges they'd face, of the amazing and specific future
God had in mind for each one of them.
And I believe He was thinking of you.
A Picture of His Plan
One of my favorite childhood memories is of our family
working around a table over a 500-piece puzzle during the
Christmas holidays. I loved sorting through my pile of
pieces-blue ones, green ones, multicolored ones-trying
to find a perfect fit. Piece by irregular piece, the picture
slowly came to life. Of course, every once in a while I'd
turn the box lid over and take a long
hard look at the painting on the
cover. There it was-the gorgeous
finished picture we were all
working toward.
That box lid was proof that no
matter how stuck we were at the
moment, our individual pieces were
made to fit together. Eventually, we
knew, we'd have spread out in front of us a grand scene-a
harbor full of colorful sailing boats, maybe, or a Swiss
mountain village. We didn't have to guess at our goal. We
could see where we were supposed to end up. And we could
see that it would be beautiful.
You've probably been around that table with your family
many times, too. And like me, you probably can't imagine
how difficult those puzzles would have been to complete
without having the big picture right there at hand.
That night in the vineyard, Jesus "turned the box lid
over" and showed us the big picture. He wanted us to see-no
matter what circumstance we're in
at the moment-what God the Father
is trying to accomplish in and through
us for eternity. He wanted us to know
how to respond to His will. He
wanted us to remember that every
touch of His hand is intended to bring
us to a place of great spiritual abundance.
And to accomplish all that, Jesus showed us a picture of
a vineyard.
Using the illustrations of a vinedresser, a vine, a branch,
and fruit, Jesus told us plainly that He wants something
specific from us. And He wants it so much that He
continually intervenes in our lives-sometimes even with
pain-to make it happen.
Maybe you can identify with what those disappointed
disciples experienced that night. So many women can. We
know what it's like to anticipate a bright tomorrow, only to
find ourselves peering into a dark today. Things are going
along according to plan, then for no apparent reason we
find ourselves ambushed by confusion or pain. We wonder,
Why is this happening? Has God forgotten me? What on earth is
He up to in my life?
If you have already read Secrets of the Vine, you know
the answer. If not, what I want to share with you may come
as a surprise-yet it's a surprise full of promise. Either way,
if what you want most is greater fruitfulness and service
and impact for God in your life, then the teachings of the
vineyard are for you.
Where Women Walk
You might be wondering why I decided to write Secrets of
the Vine for Women. After all, Secrets of the Vine is already a
publishing success. And it turns out that it has been even
more widely read by women than men. Bruce was flooded
with letters from women saying things like, "This book felt
like a big hug from God," and "Secrets explained what I
experienced just last week!" Everywhere I go I meet women
who have been changed by the truths of John 15.
But in fact, the special appeal of this message for women
is the very reason I feel compelled to pick up my pen (and
yes, I start out by writing in longhand!). Wherever I teach on
this subject, woman consistently express a desire to go
deeper. They want to learn more about
how Jesus' vineyard conversation
applies to their experiences as women
in today's world. In short, they want to
continue the conversation!
And so do I.
In the pages to come I will
introduce you to some women like
yourself. They are mothers, daughters,
wives, sisters, and singles with one thing in common: They
believe God does have a loving and amazing plan for
greater fruitfulness in their lives . and they want it with all
their heart!
The message of Secrets of the Vine for Women is also a
very personal one for me. More than any other teaching I've
explored, it has dramatically changed the way I respond to
challenging circumstances in my life. I realized how much I
actually resisted what God was doing to help me flourish. It
wasn't until I understood what Jesus taught about God's ways
with us that I went from questioning God's motives to
embracing His plan for my life. The best word I can come up
with for the result is abundance.
If that's what you want with all your heart, please join
me in the pages ahead.
