The dahlia and the vine

In my garden is one perfect dahlia.

It came in a mixed bag of summer bulbs from RHS Wisley and was the only tuber in the selection. I have had no joy growing dahlias in the past as the slugs and snails have gobbled up any fresh green growth long before flowering.

This time it was going to be different, and it was, but not as I expected.

For whatever reason, it grew very long and leggy, too spindly to hold itself up and was scaffolded with a cane and lengths of string. It continued skywards and began to droop, the stem now upwards of four feet! The stem zigzags back and forth held by the cane and some inner strength that somehow allows it to hold up its magnificent bloom.

Lectio 365 has been looking at the Names of God in recent weeks and I was brought once again to reflect on John 15 where Jesus tells us the He is the Vine and that we should abide in him alone if we want to bear fruit.

It took me back to my dahlia. It’s strayed way farther from the tuber (vine) and consequently is weaker than it could be but it’s hung on to the connection, even though the stem is bent and bowed and the crowning glory is this single perfect, radiant bloom. Without its root this would be impossible.

We all want to bear fruit but I know that I don’t always remember how crucial the abiding in the vine bit really is. Sometimes I lose the connection in the doing, when the being is the important thing. I’m being Martha when I need to be Mary.

Despite this, even a tiny misshapen connection can still be a conduit for fruit – thirty, sixty, one hundred-fold. In this case there is only one dahlia but it is shining out in beauty for all to see, glorifying its Maker and doing what it was created to do. A lesson to me every time I look out into the garden.

While writing this I was reminded of another the little elder tree by the River Aire that was ‘abiding’ – by being a tree, as Thomas Merton says, in a blog post I wrote several years ago in my Lessons from the Trees project. If you are interested, you can find it here.

Lessons from the Trees – Week 35 – Fruit (2)

“A tree gives glory to God by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be it is obeying [God]. It “consents,” so to speak, to [God’s] creative love. It is expressing an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree”

Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation.

©Gill Radulovic –

God created trees to bear fruit, which is good to eat (Genesis 2:9)  and bears seeds which can grow into new trees – the cycle of life.

Genesis 1: 11-12 reveals God’s purpose: Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so.  The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 

As image-bearers (people created in the image of God) we also are called to be fruitful.  In seeking God and obeying him, we become more Christlike, and our actions better reflect the way Jesus would do things if he were living our life.  Through grace and the work of the Holy Spirit, we become less selfish, more loving, more aware of those in need around us.

Galatians 5:22-23 explains what ensues when the Holy Spirit works within us – ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.’

I’d like to be all of those things – wouldn’t you?

©Ali Thomas Steer – reflections in the River Aire, Kirkstall Abbey, Yorkshire – August 2018

‘A tree gives glory to God by being a tree’.  Each one of us [insert name here] gives glory to God by becoming more Christlike, and in doing so, more fully ourselves [insert name here].  No-one else brings forth exactly the same fruit as you.

No matter what the circumstances of your life, you can choose to glorify God in obedience.  You may feel that life is a struggle and its fruit are scarce or small, but you never know who is blessed by them, what love-starved person blossoms under your little kindness, what reassurance comes from your words of encouragement, what well-being comes from your time given over a cup of tea.

©Ali Thomas Steer – a resilient elder, near Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds – August 2018.

When Ken and I were walking along the River Aire in Leeds a couple of weeks ago, we spotted this little elder tree – it is hard to spot, but you can see the curved trunk in the photo.  Life has not been easy for this little tree.  I do not know what circumstances led to it falling, but despite its difficulties and its broken trunk, life still abounds and it is being a tree with all it has.  Looking a little further along the ground, we saw this:

©Ali Thomas Steer – a resilient elder, near Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds – August 2018.

Elderberries!  It may be growing misshapen along the ground, but this little tree has overcome its difficulties and brought glory to God in its very decent crop of ripening fruit.  We can bring glory to God in our joy and in our pain.

Sometimes it’s easier to see other people doing things that bring glory to God or see good fruit in them than it is to see it in ourselves. But remember, other people probably feel exactly the same about you!

This is not a ‘pat-yourself-on’the-back’ exercise, but a ‘consider yourself with sober judgement’ (Romans 12:3) moment.  When you do anything:

• Is your heart right?
• What is your motivation?
• Is your intent to bring glory to God, however mundane or trivial the activity seems?

If you are like me, the answer is ‘sometimes’ at best. I am a mixture of vanity, concern about what others think, wanting to please people, and sometimes real kindness.  Sometimes my spiritual fruit is ripe, and sometimes it is hard and sour. But it doesn’t hurt to ask God each morning for grace and fruit of the Spirit for the day  and reflect on the  course of that day each evening, to acknowledge our weak points and praise God for what he is doing in us to grow those beautiful fruit of the Spirit.