My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
    and cut out a wine-press as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.
~Isaiah 5:1-4

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. ~ Jesus (from John 15)

How is it that we are one of the wealthiest Nations in the world, and we struggle to love the one that has blessed us with so much?  How is it that we have full access to every book, every teaching every version of the Bible and we choose to spend our time building up treasures on earth?

The Gardener has chosen to plant a vineyard, call it His own. He planted a vine and extended life to branches that would bear fruit.  Branches are pruned for the benefit of the vine.  The Gardener knows each branch, knows each one by name.  Knows the fruit it will bear, and the parts he will cut off.  It is all to benefit the vine.  The vine knows when a branch has been lost, when a branch is bearing much fruit.

The Gardener is God, Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, what fruit shall we bear?  Looking at this from a corporate eye is telling of what is to come; what has passed, and what is already here.

Father, in shaping the branches of your vineyard we ask for mercy.  For no one knows the hour of your return.  Show us how bear good fruit that will last for eternity, shine in your pleasure, be for your glory. Prune us for the growth of your kingdom.  You are good, we trust your love, even in the times of pruning and growth.