The Garden

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

                                                                                                              -John 15:1-2

This is a little excerpt from a wedding I did over the weekend for my good friends Ryan and Maggie.

In John 15 we are invited into this beautiful but difficult imagery of a Garden. The scripture says that God is the Gardener and we are like a vine that is growing in the Garden. The vine, us, has many branches. Some of those branches, some parts of us are creating life for us, but some parts of us are producing death. Those parts are our old self or our false self. While we live in this fallen world there are parts of us that need to be pruned. Parts that need to die so they don’t destroy us all together. 

The world started with a wedding and it ends with a wedding. And the world started in a Garden and it ends in a Garden. God made man and woman and he placed them in a Garden. I think it is very safe to say, that God was telling us something. Marriage is a Garden. It has to watered and tended and paid attention to.

At times you will love this marriage. This Garden that God is giving you to live in. You will love it because it will cause you more life than you ever thought possible. It will make you feel such joy and such fullness. And you will feel this life giving abundance because that’s what happens in a garden. Life and fruit are born there.

At times you will also hate this marriage. This Garden that God is giving you to live in. You will hate it because it will cause you more pain and more suffering than you ever thought possible. It will make you feel frustration and emptiness. You will feel this painful groaning because that’s what happens in a Garden. Weeds are picked and dying branches are pruned. God will use this marriage to prune you both. He will use it to make you more holy. So, remember in those moments when you’ve slammed a door and you sit in separate rooms wondering all sorts of terrible things… In those moments remember that you’re being pruned. Although it is very painful pruning causes us to come to life. And Gardening is all about creating space for things to come alive.