Calling isn’t easy, we’re fooling ourselves if we think it is. Accomplishments take time, determination and hard work, sometimes really hard work. Whether it’s raising children, maintaining relationships, professional growth or academic success, our greatest accomplishments take time, commitment and energy.

It’s here I find myself pondering the investment made by a winemaker. I recently heard a winemaker say, “The most important thing in winemaking is the vineyard”. I love that! Good wine isn’t cheap because the vineyard must be maintained, the vines pruned, the fruit harvested, the grapes crushed, the wine fermented, and then fermented again. Only then is the wine left to mature, before being filtered to remove the sediment.

We use the term “aging like fine wine” as a term of endearment, but fine wines, the best wines, come at great cost. Weighing up the cost is challenging isn’t it? We often avoid the pain of being pruned, by rejecting humility in favor of prideful protection.

The winemaking process bursts with meaning and metaphor, like courageously and humbly pruning off old habits, character flaws, even relationships that no longer serve us, or bring joy. Pruning removes the old, dead wood and profoundly impacts the quality of the new wine. The pruning process makes space for air to flow and sunlight, trimming off the previous season’s growth to make way for the coming harvest.

Winter is pruning season. New growth will be determined by the cuts we make during those long cold days, when growth seems to illude us. When nothing can relieve the bitter cold of loneliness, even despair. The winter isn’t pretty, there are no buds, no foliage and no colour on the vines. The growth happens in the secret place, below the surface as the root system expands, soaking up as many nutrients as possible, in preparation for the coming season of growth.

Have you ever felt like you’re being pruned? It feels like the dark night of the soul, and it’s just that, your soul. Mind games fueled by emotions that keep us bound and stuck in never ending loops of anxiety and despair. The heat comes and we retreat, fiercely protecting ourselves from the pruning sheers. I know, because I’ve cowered in the corner and hidden from pain. It’s fine for a while, until next time the heat comes and the despair deepens.

Winemaking is a centuries-old profession so it’s little wonder Jesus found so much meaning in the analogy. I’ve heard it said that grapevines can produce fruit for thirty to fifty years, so the vinedresser comes to know each vine. Every year the vinedresser cuts away the old growth and trims away the excess buds so the vine can flourish.

Pruning is humbling and sometimes it’s really painful as people bring out the best and worst in us. Every time I hear my sister brace herself by saying, “Don’t take this the wrong way,” I know I’m about to receive an opportunity for feedback and growth. These days our relationship is flourishing, because I courageously pruned away the old habits, and the pain of my own self-judgements and lies.

Good wine isn’t cheap and neither is growth, it takes time to flourish. In the secret place, where it seems like nothing is happening, we can hear the voice of the vinedresser as He tends to the vine. Let go of the offences and hurts that keep you entangled with the past. Then as the seasons change and the warmth of the sunlight breaks through, you will breathe again. It’s in the letting go that life bursts open with the vibrance and sounds of increased capacity and growth for the coming season.