The meaning of the vine

Grown in wine country

I grew up in the Temecula Valley, where rows of vines run over the hills on the eastern slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains. It was recognized as an official American wine region in 1984 ².

Water into wine

The first sign Jesus gave was at a wedding in Cana. The wine ran out, and he had the servants fill six stone jars with water. What they drew out was wine, and the best of it: “you have kept the good wine until now” ³. I love that his first miracle was a celebration, and that he took something ordinary and made it good. That is what I hope this work does for the people and businesses I serve.

Abide

In John 15 a branch does not strain to bear fruit. It abides. It stays connected to the vine, and the fruit comes from that connection, not from its own effort ¹. It is the opposite of hustle, and it is the posture I want to work from.

Pruned to grow

The same chapter says something harder: “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” ¹. Growth is not only adding. It is also cutting back what no longer serves, so what is left can carry more. This year was a pruning season for me.

Education and growth

Most of my life has been in education: a student, then on the team that ran a school, then leading one. If those years taught me anything, it is that people learn by making something real, not by watching someone else make it, and that growth is slow and shared. Paul put it simply: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” ⁴. A teacher plants and waters. Proverbs calls it training up, the kind of learning that stays for life ⁵.

A vineyard is the same. In Isaiah’s song, the owner digs the ground, clears the stones, plants choice vines and builds a watchtower to watch over them ⁶. Nothing about it is quick. That is how I teach, and how I build: tend the ground, stay close, and give it seasons.

Fruit, rest and the cup

The fruit the vine is after is not success for its own sake. It is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control ⁷. The vine is also a picture of rest: the prophet Micah hoped for a day when everyone would sit “under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid” ⁸. And at the last supper, Jesus took the cup and spoke of the fruit of the vine ⁹.

It all ties together

Born on the 28th. Raised among the vines. Called to teach and to build. When I put the two halves side by side, the name was already there: the 28th, and the vine.