Vineyards

For the long holiday weekend they celebrate in October, Jaclyn and I headed west to the mountains of Mendoza--wine capital of Argentina. It was picturesque. The rows and rows of vines reminded me of a few images in the Bible that stand out to me because it is full of metaphors related to agriculture.
John 15:5
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.
Mark 4 recounts a story about a farmer scattering seeds and how the plants grew or didn't depending on where the seed landed
Today stories like this don't make a lot of sense to us anymore. They don't have the same impact because we are far removed from the environment--living in concrete cities. I need to be reminded what my job is. I don't control my own growth, I can facilitate it maybe, but there are many elements that are outside of my control. These are just some of the thoughts that have been seeping in my head lately that I keep coming back to.