Sour Grapes, Dried Grapes, Pruned Grapes

As interesting as watching the lush fruit of the season being harvested for wine was discovering the fate of all the other grapes. Whether at the winery with my friend Colleen or in my walks, the seasons of the vines and the changes that were rendered in the course of the year unfolded with great meaning of metaphor and life within my year here in this beautiful wine region of Italy.

First of all it was in the spring when many of the branches in full bloom, wanting to bear fruit, were pruned away. It seemed like such a waste of potential fruit to see so many cut to very specific dimensions. It was a witnessing to Jesus’ parable of the vines, as the remaining fruit would all develop at the bottom of the vines, seemingly resting with the leaves above them doing the hard work of photosynthesis. It took time, labor and knowledge to prune the branches for the optimal well being of both fruit and plant. During the course of the Summer there would be a constant slow observation and tending process that would ensure the best conditions for the grapes, and waiting for the precise moment when the fruit would be ready for harvest, ever mindful of weather conditions for the fateful day of picking. In our lives we often get to a place where we can be overwhelmed: by our mistakes, our challenges, our sins or even too much of a good thing, and a time for pruning and paring back helps us to focus our efforts to produce the best in our lives in grace. For in pruning we ensure a better future, for the time of harvest.

Once the day came for harvest there was still no guarantee that all would make the grade for wine. Much of the fruit would be cut away, too dry for wine. My friends in the village, and the women at the winery said they would often eat the most sun dried of these, the raisins, as snack in this season. Others, not dried enough for raisins, not perfect enough for wine would become fertilizer, cut and dropped to the ground in the harvest process. Wine ready, sun dried, or other, all were used to a good purpose, a reminder that the Fruits of the Spirit as defined by the apostle Paul are different, but all useful. In due season we can all rest assured that as the grapes we all have purpose, we all have a place in God’s world.

One day on a long walk I came across a vineyard that had been left to grow wild, left without care. It was hard to find the grapes on these vines, for without pruning they had no pattern for growth, and they did not produce much fruit. When I did try the fruit it was sour, not even close in flavor to the grapes of the tended vineyard. I was a bit shocked, sure there are parables of wild grapes, sour grapes, but to see the stark difference surprised me. It was edible evidence of the need for care and tending.

In our lives we all need relationships, cooperation, but even more a guiding hand, the guiding hand of our triune God, who offers a loving care. In order for us to live to our fullest we must have a sense of order as in the pruning, a sense of patience for the harvest, a sense of our own created value to be the best we have been created to be and a knowing that the master gardener, the master vintner is always looking out for our best. How do you, through the leading of the Holy Spirit allow others and yourself to care for you, to reach your fullest? How do you, through the leading of the Holy Spirit help others through your caring acts?