Meditations

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. John 15:1

“One reason pruning is needed is the fact that the bush produces more buds than it can bring to full maturity. Any bush that is alive and thriving is producing more and more buds every cycle. And any person or business that is thriving is doing the same. Life begets life. That is normal. But it can be too much, as well.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 43.

Jesus is the true vine. The Father in heaven is the gardener. And we are branches that produce buds.

And today I learned a fact of life. Our branches produce more buds than we can bring to maturity so pruning things, or in plain terms, not trying to do everything, helps us do the things we chose to do, more fruitful.

Here’s where this becomes challenging. Let’s say, like me, you have lots of capacity.

This can lead me to try to do more than I should and I could “do” myself to death. When I prune things, I can actually produce an insane amount of fruit by “not trying to do everything” but to do fewer things better.

I need to think more about this. Perhaps you do too? So how do we discern what to prune?

The key is in today’s Scripture, namely, abiding in the true vine of Jesus, and letting the Father, our gardener, cut off those buds that would not go to maturity, so that our lives produce both quality and abundant fruit.

Yet He has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; He provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. Acts 14:17

“Each season also has its own set of activities. Spring is about sowing and beginnings. Where there is nothing but a waiting field, the farmer sows seeds in the expectation that they will take root and produce a harvest. The tasks of spring include:

– Cleaning out what is left over from the winter’s dying plants;
– Gathering seeds;
– Figuring out which fields you are going to work;
– Making sure you have the resources to take you through the year;
– Actual sowing and planting;
– Protecting seedlings from the elements and intruders; and
– Nurturing the vision of the harvest to guide the task.

In summer, things change again. It is time to tend to what has taken root. The tasks of summer include:

– Directing resources to ensure the crops are growing;
– Preventing disease and keeping insects and other pests away;
– Watering, fertilizing, and pruning;
– Supporting the plants until they can stand on their own; and
– Monitoring, managing, and protecting the crops for the future.

Fall is harvest time:
– Acting with urgency to get crops out of the field before they rot or are damaged by rain or the cold of winter;
– Gathering the harvest completely, not leaving anything in the field;
– Harvesting with efficiency and watching the costs; and
– Harvesting with care so you don’t destroy the field in the process.

In winter, everything dies, though preparations continue. The tasks of winter include:

– Getting the financials in order;
– Squaring accounts with lenders for last years’ crops and lining up next year’s money;
– Repairing equipment and getting it ready for next year;
– Preparing fields for the upcoming year; and
– Reviewing the successes and failures of the past year and tweaking things to do everything better next year.

The problem comes when we do not accept or we willfully ignore these seasons… Believe in life cycles and seasons. They are real. Therefore, when the days get shorter or it is time to change, you will not think that “something is wrong,” but you will accept the change as readily as a farmer accepts the turning of the calendar. Then you will be able to end the previous season’s appropriate activities and move to the next. Endings are easier to embrace and execute when you believe something normal is happening.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 39-41.

As I ponder on sabbatical, I realize I am transitioning to a different season of life.

I am asking myself what things I need to be doing to wrap up the past season and prepare for the next one so I liked this list of things for the farmer.

For example, I am entering the season of serving as a grandfather and as a mentor. I will continue serving as a writer and speaker but I cannot serve as President & CEO any longer.

I am learning areas of my life that need more or less attention.

As I welcome these decisions, normal changes in seasons of life, I become more fruitful quicker. And if I don’t of course it limits my productivity.

I don’t have this figured out but I pray my journey inspires you out there to prune and to welcome change in the seasons of life to maximize our kingdom impact.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise. Ephesians 5:15

“When we talk about necessary endings, it’s one thing to understand the theory behind the three reasons for pruning—good but not best, sick but not getting well, and long since dead—but it’s another thing entirely to apply those concepts in real life. We can’t execute endings in theory only, so they have to be clear in reality. The question is, What defines reality?

When pruning a rosebush, the first step is to ask, “What does a rose look like?” In other words, you have to know the standard you are pruning toward. The gardener knows what a healthy bud, branch, or bloom looks like and prunes with that standard in mind. The same thing is true in business and life—we have to have a good definition of what we want the outcome to look like and prune toward that…

Pruning is not easy. It is hard and there will be people who don’t like it, no matter what you do. You have to decide where your lines are, the values with which you will execute them, and go forward… Not every activity nor every person is a rose or will ever be one. One might be a great chrysanthemum, but remember, you are growing a rose of a business or life. So you have to begin by defining what you are pruning toward and the criteria by which you will keep or clip…

You can’t prune toward anything if you don’t know what you want. You have to figure out what you are trying to be or build and then define what the pruning standards are going to be. That definition and those standards will bring you to the pruning moments… “If you don’t know where you are heading, you’ll get there” applies to pruning as well. Define what you are shooting for, and then prune against that standard. That is when vision, goals, and even teams begin to take the shape that you desire.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 26-30.

What standard are you pruning toward?

I was messaging with a friend yesterday and the topic of the values of the team in sports history with the highest winning percentage came up: the New Zealand All Blacks.

One of their values is this: “Go for the Gap: When you are top of your game, change your game.”

Think about it. Most tend to rest on their laurels when they are on top of their game. Those who prune change their game and bear more fruit. Is that you? Do you want it to be?

Today I want to challenge you to pray with me about what standard you prune toward.

We will not get where we want to go in our generous living, giving, serving, and loving if we do not know where we are heading and prune toward that goal.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:19

“In the simple word “pruning” is the central theme of what a necessary ending is all about: Removing whatever it is in our business or life whose reach is unwanted or superfluous. In business and in life, executing the three types of necessary endings described above is what characterizes people who get results. (1) If an initiative is siphoning off resources that could go to something with more promise, it is pruned. (2) If an endeavor is sick and is not going to get well, it is pruned. (3) If it’s clear that something is already dead, it is pruned. This is the threefold formula for doing well in almost every arena of life.

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 22.

Did any of these three pruning areas stand out to you as an area of reflection related to your stewardship?

The first area stood out to me as directly related to generosity. Anything that siphons our resources from more promising areas needs pruning. Today’s Scripture links to the second and third area. Sick branches need care and dead ones get cut down. They become good for firewood.

The good part about pruning is that we start to understand it as the pathway for facilitating new and more fruitful life.
God help us prune our lives so they produce more of the fruits of the Spirit, one of which is generosity.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. Galatians 5:22-23

As fruit have been on my mind since reading this book, this bowl caught my eye. I snapped this photo of some delicious “cuties” in the United Club on my travels home from Asia. Imagine our lives producing an abundance with pruning.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

“Endings are not only part of life; they are a requirement for living and thriving, professionally and personally. Being alive requires that we sometimes kill off things in which we were once invested, uproot what we previously nurtured, and tear down what we built for an earlier time. Refraining, giving up, throwing away, tearing down, hating what we once cherished—all are necessary.

Endings are the reason you are not married to your prom date nor still working in your first job. But without the ability to do endings well, we flounder, stay stuck, and fail to reach our goals and dreams. Or worse, we remain in painful and sometimes destructive situations. Endings are crucial, but we rarely like them. Hence the problem. Why We Avoid Endings.
Endings are necessary, but the truth is that we often do not do them well. Although we need them for good results to happen in life and for bad situations to be resolved, the reality is that most of us humans often avoid them or botch them.

We hang on too long when we should end something now… We are afraid of the unknown… We have had too many and too painful endings in our personal history, so we avoid another one. When they are forced upon us, we do not know how to process them, and we sink or flounder. We do not learn from them, so we repeat the same mistakes over and over.”

Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 2011) 15-16.

I am back from Asia. And I feel pretty good. Reply if you want to read my trip report.

In my travels, I have been reading this book. My counselor recommended it for my sabbatical reading and transitioning from President & CEO to Founder. And the deeper reason is to help strengthen my emotional health. As I read it, I also see connections to generosity.

Solomon reminds us that there’s a time for everything.

And as a steward aspiring to faithful and generous service, you know that to say yes to living, giving, serving, and loving, you need to end some things so you can fully engage with others.

Just this week, a friend in Ukraine shared that with the war waging on for four years and counting, he has to say ‘no’ to more things. I am praying for him.

Recently another friend had change forced upon him. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been. But he’s sitting with the Lord trying to discern his next steps.

On this note I must honor my wife. I see what she does (or does not do) so she can support me, do her seminary supervision, have countless soul care sessions with people, help with the granddaughters 3 days a week, do national and international speaking and teaching, and more. I see her at the beginning of each year determine the things she will continue or end to have perpetual margin for what is most important.

For the rest of us, maybe we have flexibility to choose the things we continue or end, but maybe we have put off making such assessments. Here’s what I say today. Don’t put this off. Ask Jesus to help you as it will not be easy.

And it will only increase your generosity.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

“How could such a person not be a fool when for the sake of things that cannot profit him – ‘For a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses’ (Luke 12:15) – he gives up what is most profitable of all? He fails to become a wise merchant, selling even necessities, so far as possible, and in this way adding to the capital of a truly bountiful and gainful form of commerce or husbandry – a husbandry, indeed, which even before the harvest time multiplies a hundredfold that which was sown, thus foreshowing that the profit to come and the harvest shortly to be reaped will be indescribable and unimaginable.

And the curious thing is that the smaller the storerooms the seed comes from the larger will the harvest be. Hence there is no justification in aspiring to become rich even for a good cause. The truth is that people are frightened of being poor because they have no faith in Him who promised to provide all things needful to those who seek the kingdom of God (cf. Matt. 6:33). It is this fear that spurs them, even when they are endowed with all things, and it prevents them from ever freeing themselves from this sickly and baneful desire. They go on amassing wealth, loading themselves with a worthless burden or, rather, enclosing themselves while still living in a most absurd kind of tomb.”

Gregory Palamas (1296-1359) was a monk of Mount Athos and later archbishop of Thessalonica in “To the Most Reverend Nun Xenia” in The Philokalia V4.305.

I am sitting in Manila while typing this. It will post when I am over the Pacific.

I marvel that after mining classic writings of the Christian faith, like The Philokalia, for 16.5 years and posting more than 6,000 Daily Meditations, I never cease to find gold. I never stop finding the most profound quotes of saints reflecting on Scripture. Please read this post again! It’s so good!

These discoveries happen because there is no better quest than seeking the Kingdom with saints through the centuries.

Today, Gregory writes Xenia saying that he can’t understand why, despite the explicit warning of Jesus, people fail to sow to reap a harvest that is both indescribable and unimaginable.

Instead they amass wealth and live in an absurd kind of tomb. If you have wealth on earth, that’s you! Stop doing it! And hear me pointedly, I concur with Gregory who explains why this happens.

The truth hurts: “people are frightened of being poor because they have no faith in Him who promised to provide all things needful to those who seek the kingdom of God.”

Don’t let your actions testify against you. I am not trying to rob you but help you.

And I will need your help in an ongoing way as this sabbatical continues to unleash many new kingdom-advancing ideas and opportunities.

Seriously, I just spent time in China and, among other efforts, had the privilege of leading three people to faith in Jesus Christ.

This will cost them everything but the gain will be indescribable and unimaginable. The 60+ workers I empowered may experience persecution or even martyrdom, but they thanked me.

They said that that the time they have will be exponentially more productive. I wept with my wife on FaceTime yesterday while trying to process my experiences on the trip.

I must conclude by saying that this “curious” statement struck me: “the smaller the storerooms the seed comes from the larger will the harvest be.”

I thank a few God for a few humble people who sent me to China following God’s leading. They did it from their limited resources. When they get to the kingdom, they will meet three people who made it there because they sent me.

And, in Jesus name, countless others through the ministries of those I served.

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

“He who dwells in solitude and depends on charity for his food must accept alms in seven ways. First, he must ask only for what is needful. Secondly, he must take only what is needful. Thirdly, he must receive whatever is offered to him as if from God. Fourthly, he must trust in God and believe that He will recompense the giver. Fifthly, he must apply himself to keeping the commandments. Sixthly, he must not misuse what is given to him. Seventhly, he must not be stingy but must give to others and be compassionate. He who conducts himself thus in these matters experiences the joy of having his needs supplied not by man but by God.”

Gregory of Sinai in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 4, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 256.

In continuing my exploration of what is ‘needful’ in The Philokalia, I appreciated this straightforward instruction for me as I trust God to supply my needs and for the needs of my family.

Read it again. It drives me to pursue contentment, simplicity, dependence on God, trust in God, obedience to God, stewardship, and generosity. Join me. This is what is needful on our part.

And when we do this we can trust God to meet our needs!

I posted this prior to entering China. Before traveling home to USA, I have stopped in Manila (pictured above) to meet with a very special friend, Anjji Gabriel.

Assuming travel goes on schedule, I will return to Denver on Thursday afternoon.

But I want to pause to give thanks for how God supplied what was needful for my trip: prayers for God to work in power, strength to serve, financial resources to travel, and more.

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Luke 18:13

“A brother named John came from the coast to Father Philimon and, clasping his feet, said to him: ‘What shall I do to be saved? For my intellect vacillates to and fro and strays after all the wrong things.’ After a pause, the father replied: ‘This is one of the outer passions and it stays with you because you still have not acquired a perfect longing for God. The warmth of this longing and of the knowledge of God has not yet come to you.’

The brother said to him: ‘What shall I do, father?’ Abba Philimon replied; ‘Meditate inwardly for a while, deep in your heart; for this can cleanse your intellect of these things.’ The brother, not understanding what was said, asked the Elder: ‘What is inward meditation, father?’ The Elder replied: ‘Keep watch in your heart; and with watchfulness say in your mind with awe and trembling “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me.” For this is the advice which the blessed Diadochos gave to beginners.

The brother departed; and with the help of God and the Elder’s prayers he found stillness and for a while was filled with sweetness by this meditation. But then it suddenly left him and he could, not practice it or pray watchfully. So he went again to the Elder and told him what had happened. And the Elder said to him: ‘You have had a brief taste of stillness and inner work, and have experienced the sweetness that comes from them. This is what you should always be doing in your heart: whether eating or drinking, in company or outside your cell, or on a journey, repeat that prayer with a watchful mind and an undeflected intellect; also chant, and meditate on prayers and psalms. Even when carrying out needful tasks, do not let your intellect be idle but keep it meditating inwardly and praying.

For in this way you can grasp the depths of divine Scripture and the power hidden in it, and give unceasing work to the intellect, thus fulfilling the apostolic commando “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Pay strict attention to your heart and watch over it, so that it does not give admittance to thoughts that are evil or in any way vain and useless. Without interruption, whether asleep or awake, eating, drinking, or to company, let your heart inwardly and mentally at times be meditating on the psalms, at other times be repeating the prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy
upon me.”

Abba Philimon in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 2, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 347.

I am scheduled to depart from China today. Abba Philimon reminds me to finish well, to carry out needful tasks but also to pray nonstop.

I found the names here interesting. Why? I am typing the the day before entering China and I am going to serve a pastor named John who lives on the coast in Qingdao, China.

I feel God telling me to remind him of this truth so that he remembers the things I share with him and does not forget them. He can remember by praying nonstop.

I have learned that I am speaking far more than planned. And they have asked me to teach them all about the Apostolic Fathers. The disciples discipled by the disciples.

Pray with me that the examples of the Apostolic Fathers will inspire them to carry out needful tasks and pray nonstop despite the reality and prospect of persecution.

Pray the testimonies of these saints will inspire them to live out the teachings of Jesus without fear and with great power and peace. Here is a simple list of the main Apostolic Fathers and key writings:

– Clement of Rome (Bishop of Rome)
– Ignatius of Antioch (Bishop of Antioch)
– Polycarp of Smyrna (Bishop of Smyrna)
– Papias of Hierapolis (Bishop)
– Quadratus of Athens

Key Writings of the Apostolic Fathers

– The Didachē (Also known as “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”)
– The Shepherd of Hermas
– The Epistle of Barnabas
– The Letter to Diognetus
– The Martyrdom of Polycarp
– First and Second Letter of Clement
– Seven Letters of Ignatius
– Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians

They were not included in the New Testament canon as these people did not meet Jesus but were disciples of disciples. But their lives point people to Jesus and Scripture in powerful ways.

But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you; but if you do not want to, then don’t come. Look, the whole country lies before you; go wherever you please.” However, before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, “Go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the towns of Judah, and live with him among the people, or go anywhere else you please.” Then the commander gave him provisions and a present and let him go. Jeremiah 40:4-5

“I am not arguing here that He who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field with such glory will
certainly provide also for us if we pursue holiness; for those who are still far from real faith in God cannot as yet be
persuaded by this argument. But who, when asked, will refuse to give what is needful to one who lives a holy life?
The barbarous Babylonians who took Jerusalem by force showed respect for the holiness of Jeremiah, and provided him abundantly with all his bodily requirements, giving him not only food but the vessels with which it was the custom to serve guests.

Neilos of Sinai in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 1, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 211.

Notice that sometimes God supplies “provisions and a present” through the least likely sources.

In this scene, the Babylonians have conquered the Jewish people and rather than harm the holy man, they help him. Rather than deprive him, they delight to show him kindness.

It teaches us that God can do anything. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts not our thoughts.

And so my focus is to trust God to supply provisions and a present while pursuing holiness on my last full day in China. Join me wherever you are. And thanks for your prayers for safe travel tomorrow from Qingdao to Manila.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:41-42

“Keep to a sparse and plain diet, not seeking a variety of tempting dishes. Should the thought come to you of getting extravagant foods in order to give hospitality, dismiss it, do not be deceived by it: for in it the enemy lies in ambush, waiting to tear you away from stillness. Remember how the Lord rebukes Martha (the soul that is over-busy with such things) when He says: ‘You are anxious and troubled about many things: one thing alone is needful’ – to hear the divine word; after that, one should be content with anything that comes to hand. He indicates all this by adding: ‘Mary has chosen what is best, and it cannot be taken away from her’. You also have the example of how the widow of Zarephath gave hospitality to the Prophet (cf. 1 Kings 17:9-16). If you have only bread, salt or water, you can still meet the dues of hospitality. Even if you do not have these, but make the stranger welcome and say something helpful, you will not be failing in hospitality.”

Evagrios the Solitary in The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume 1, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarius of Corinth (London: Faber & Faber, 1979) 32.

Notice what Evagrios is saying to us.

To “keep a sparse and plain diet” and to not seek “a variety of tempting dishes” is about mortifying the desires of the flesh or controlling your wants so they do not control us.

He adds “one should be content with anything that comes to hand.”

I pray this for myself in China this week and for readers wherever you are. May God help us “choose what is best” and offer hospitality that aims at giving something better than food – words that are “helpful.”

Praying my preaching today is “helpful” for all who hear.