Dependent on the Vine
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I can still remember clearly the day I heard the first presentation about Stichting Bethlehem. During the presentation, there was one question that stood out to me: “Does the work that is done in the fields bear fruit?”
Naturally, this question is difficult to answer. Perhaps it is also not always fair to ask the question. Because when we hold up a mirror to ourselves, how often do we ask this question in the Dutch or Canadian context while sowing?
Yet it is a question that somehow is part of the missionary and field work. No, it is not an agenda item during our meetings. Nor is it a calculation, whereby we take stock after each month. In fact, it is a question that I sometimes push far away, with the thought expressed in
the poem by the missionary Livingstone:
‘We only sow, we do not know
Whether the seed will bring forth its stalks
Or fall on rocks, be choked by thorns,
Or be devoured by a hungry bird.
Thine be the harvest, ours is the work, oh Lord,
We are but sowers, nothing more.’
Although I may omit the question of whether there is fruit, questions may still arise in your mind. For example: How do I know whether I am sowing correctly during the Bible classes for the children in Refilwe? What is needed to find the right access for sowing amongst the children in Phumzile? If I sometimes visit one of the parents (in addition to the work with the children), how often should and may God’s Word be opened? Investing in relationships is an important component, but how do I do this the right way? Sometimes I seem to have to take long detours to finally get where I want to be: speaking to people about the Word of God. Is that the way it will bear fruit?
I read a sermon on the first verses of John 15 from a missionary who has done a lot of work in South Africa. He draws several lessons for missionary work. The first lesson is: “Learn to be nothing.” What a profound lesson that is, completely contrary to my own nature! Secondly, he says that the branch of the vine must learn to live in deep dependence. If the grape lives completely dependent on the vine, all responsibility for the fruit lies with the Vine, with Christ Himself
In addition, it requires living in close communion with the Vine. How impossible if it were up to me! And at the same time, this is the lesson I have to learn here almost every day: learning not to do my own work, learning not to be responsible myself, learning not to look for fruit myself, learning not to do it myself... No, but I have to learn to ask for the grace to completely depend on the Vine as a branch.
What a lesson about fruits! That’s why I bought a grape plant at the local plant shop on a relaxing Saturday. There has been a vine in my garden for a few months now. Are there any fruits yet? No, they say this always takes a while. Sometimes it takes years... As long as the branches stay in the vine!
Lianne de Baat
