My coworker Kurt is an amateur winemaker with a vineyard in north central California. I had visited the vineyard at many times of the year and heard many lessons. I wanted to experience it at harvest time.

At harvest, we would walk down the rows selecting a grape from many clusters, mixing them together, and then testing if they were at the ripeness we needed. When they were ready, we picked all the grapes of that varietal at one time, crushed them together, and continued the process.

When I think about John 15, abiding in Jesus to bear fruit, I always think just about myself. But in winemaking, one cluster is not enough on its own. You are looking for rows of grapes that are ready together. Ripe.

What is the harvest God is preparing your community for? Notice where God is focusing the growth and the fruit you are seeing. Encourage someone else’s ripening through friendship, feedback, a connection, or prayer.

It is comforting that the fruitfulness needed in our community is not ours alone. It will be added to the fruitfulness of many others and be just what is needed. As I abide, God the gardener works on me and those around me, that we bear much fruit.