July 13, 2020

Written by Emma Rooker

“Good fruit never resulted in good wine.” 

I made a mental note of these words in a conversation last week; words stated by a kind-hearted, elderly apple farmer with whom I happened to pick up a conversation with. He told me he was the proud owner of 500 apple trees, and spoke eagerly and passionately about his orchard, and about the process of pruning them, tending to them and harvesting them. His wisdom was simply meant to serve as agricultural advice, but simultaneously, the spiritual significance they held echoed through my heart and mind. 

Later that evening, those words still fresh in my memory, I sat down and read Jesus’ words from the gospel of John: 

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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 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. 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. 

John 15:1-7 

There’s so much beauty in this passage as Jesus is speaking to His disciples, painting a clear picture of the relationship between Himself, humanity, and the Father. I envision God, in His garden, tending diligently to each one of us: His knees bent deep into the dirt, hands stained from the soil, carefully and gently cultivating us into the people He created us to be. The past several months of quarantine and COVID-19 have held an undeniable sense of waiting for many as we long for the storm to pass, are straining to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and wonder who we might be on the other side of all of this. 

God’s plan for our lives is that we would bear much fruit, in any and every season. This fruit, specifically listed as the fruits of the Spirit in the Bible, exist to glorify Him, and to make us more like Jesus. If there is anything we know to be true about our Heavenly Father, it’s this: He’s good and faithful and is constantly moving in the unseen, working things for our good, and never wasting a single moment. We rest assured that He’s at work this very moment, pruning and watering and tending to our hearts. The command found in the passage above calls us to remain in the vine, to remain with Jesus, abiding in His love. As a faith-based company, we want to carry this call well, choosing to be devoted disciples of Jesus. We desire that our work and provision of care is aligned with the values of God’s kingdom, and apart from Him, believe we can accomplish nothing. In light of this, we confidently put our faith and hope in Him alone, anticipating that we would bear good fruit that results in a lifetime of faithfulness. 

We aim to walk in obedience to the necessary pruning that God wants to do within us, praying that we would have the humility to allow the Father to cultivate us into the people we were meant to be. At EPAGA HomeCare, we choose to believe that the actions that we set out to do each day matter and that we can change the narrative of our world for the better. The scriptures tell us that the world will know us by our fruit, by our faithfulness, and by our love. May our fruit serve as proof: proof of His faithfulness, His death and resurrection, and proof of His undying love as we care for those around us and follow in His footsteps. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:22-23