From the Vineyard

Jesus, inspiration, lesson, assisting
picture from rgbstock.com
Someone who had been visiting Europe told a story about the wine in a particular country. It seems that they made very good white wine but the red wine was terrible. The red grapes that could be grown there were not suitable for wine making.

In order to get good grapes for the white wine, both red and green grapes had to be planted. They were in alternating rows; one row of red, the next of green and so on. The red grapes were discarded afterwards, but something about having them grow next to the green grapes made the green ones better.

It was interesting to think of half of the crop being unusable. It was only planted to make the other half better.

My husband and I talked about this and about how it could also relate to our lives. Sometimes our sole purpose is to assist someone else in achieving their potential. That means I can still add value even though I didn’t think I was doing anything outstanding on my own.

To me, the lesson of this story is that it’s not all about me. Sometimes I need to put myself aside and focus on helping others become the best that they can be.
This must be what Jesus meant in the Bible when he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I need to adhere to this and trust that when the time is right he will send someone to come alongside me to assist me in reaching my full potential.

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39 NLT

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