Struggling Vines Make Better Wines

Struggling vines produce better wines.  

This is a principle I learned from my son, Ryson, who is a wine expert. As we passed a Southern Illinois vineyard, he told us that grape vines need stress and drought to produce better fruit.  Grapes are grown on hillsides so they don’t get too much water.  They have to send their roots deep in order to produce sweeter, more interesting grapes.  If vines are not stressed and don’t have to “work” for water, they produce just shoots and leaves or maybe more fruit, but it’s bland fruit.  

I was so surprised to learn this.  Provide a lush environment for grapes with lots of fertilizer and water and they will be blah.  But make them struggle and work and they will be great.

What a life principle for us, especially since Jesus called us a vineyard in the book of John.  “I am the vine; you are the branches.” (John 15:5)  Then at the end of that section, as Jesus finishes his talk to the disciples, he says, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33)  So He fully expects us to struggle: “You will have trouble.”  

I can’t say this is a comforting thought, but it’s an encouraging thought.  There is purpose to the struggle and the stress.  Jesus is producing quality “grapes” or disciples.  He wants us to be “sweeter,” or better-flavored, and to be interesting and complex.  

December is a struggle for many people, and January, too.  So take heart, as Jesus says, knowing that He is doing something fruitful in you.