A couple years ago, my husband built two raised garden beds for our tiny, just big enough to play a bag of corn hole, backyard. Made of two-by-fours and square posts, each rectangle garden full of soil sits at the edge of our lot line about four feet off the ground – a comfortable height for planting, pruning, and harvesting.

This year we planted an assortment of vegetables including jalapeño peppers, banana peppers, a couple lettuces, and my favorite, a delicious variety of tomatoes.

One day this summer, I strained over the edge of the garden bed to reach what looked like a juicy, ripe grape tomato. I wove my hand through green leaves, around the hearty stalk, and grasped the fruit between my thumb and forefinger. I expected the tomato to leave the plant willingly, but it required more of a yank than a gentle pluck. Now in my hand I could see why, the tomato was right on the edge of ripe, but not quite there yet.

When a tomato is fully ripe and ready to be harvested, you hardly have to touch the fruit at all before it jumps into your hand. It’s as if the plant knows it’s ready to be eaten so instead of holding on, it releases the tomato with only the slightest of encouragement.

As I held the not-yet-ripe tomato in my hand, the Lord placed an analogy on my heart. The struggle to pluck a tomato that is not quite ready is much like when we try to make things happen before the Lord’s timing.

When you don’t feel productive

I’ve been wrestling with my writer life as of late. I have a strong desire to write meaningful words and grow my audience. And yet here I sit feeling like I’ve got nothing to give.

As I questioned myself and wondered why I can’t pour words onto a page like I crave, I came to a challenging conviction best summarized by these words from the Message translation of John 15 verse four.

“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.”

This well-known analogy, where Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches,” continues to grow on me as my love for gardening blossoms. (Hah - I couldn’t resist the puns). And what struck me as I revisited the passage this time, were four simple words, “I am the vine.”

I, Mindy Larsen, am not the vine. He is.
Thus…
I am not the one who makes the fruit. He is.

If I feel like I am struggling to bear fruit, then it leads me to ask the question – am I intentionally tapping in to the vine?

Tapping in to the vine

When I try to produce fruit on my own, it’s as if I’m attempting to be the vine. Well, no wonder I don’t feel productive, that’s not the role God has for me.

In John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” NIV translation

The good news is, I don’t have to question whether I will bear fruit because Jesus confidently says, “You WILL bear much fruit.” But the condition is this: if you remain intentionally tapped in to the vine, then you will bear much fruit.

Just like a ripened tomato falls into the palm of our hand when it’s ready, if we press into the Lord and wait for His perfect timing, bearing fruit won’t require such a struggle.

Hope for when you don’t feel productive

If you, too, are in a season where you’re struggling to make things happen – whether it’s navigating virtual school with your kiddos, exhaustion from working from home for yet another month, or like me trying to produce something - allow me to offer this encouragement.

You have the freedom to take the pressure off because you are not the one who makes the fruit – Jesus does. There will be seasons where we simply don’t produce as much, times where it takes a lot of work for little reward, and even those where it feels like all we can do is hang on to the Lord to stay afloat. BUT with Christ, it is not a question of if you will produce fruit, it’s a matter of when. He is the vine—a strong, sustainable vine that enables the branches to bear much fruit. And so we will.

The other day I was pruning the dead branches off my tomato plants and found something surprising. As I trailed my hand down what I thought was a corpse of a branch, I found a teeny, tiny ripe tomato.

Here’s the thing about God. He is so awesome, so incredibly powerful, that He doesn’t even need perfect conditions to make beautiful things. It’s as 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, His power is made perfect in our weakness.

If we are faithful to our Father, and stay tapped in to the strong vine that He is, it does not matter how dry, weak, or unproductive we feel; by His glory, for His glory the fruit will come.

This truth speaks much-needed encouragement to my heart, and I hope that goes for you, too. Don’t be discouraged, dear friend. Whether you’re feeling stuck or the fruit looks a little different than you expected, stay strong, hang on to the vine, and trust that He will enable you in His perfect timing.

If you were to ask me how I felt about community sometime this summer, I would have responded with a heavy sigh and probably somewhat of an eyebrow raise. Then I would have proceeded to share how my heart has felt really broken and lonely in regards to deep, heart-filling community. Traditionally, I picture community as a tight knit group of 4-6 people who know each other deeply, ask all the right questions, laugh together, cry together, speak the truth in love when necessary, and above all encourage one another. In a perfect world, this group would meet together frequently to catch up, lift each other up and read the word of God together. Sounds beautiful doesn’t it? When it happens like this, it is epic. But, what I’ve learned over the past couple of years is, community does not need to be picture-perfect to be impactful.

Over the past week I participated in an Instagram challenge hosted by a network called The Rising Tide Society whose motto is “community over competition.” Their goal is to help creatives and entrepreneurs change their mindsets from being competitors to colleagues. And this week, they encouraged this mentality through an Instagram challenge. Not only were we schooled on tips and tricks of how to share more effectively on Instagram, we were challenged more importantly to reach out and encourage our fellow creatives. In an app world, where a lot of times it feels like a competition to post the coolest pic, get the most likes, and have the most beautiful feed that is sure to gain more followers, the Rising Tide Society flipped the purpose. Challenges ranged all over the map from sharing our morning routine, to a recent piece of our work, to a glimpse into our passions - all with the hopes of sharing who we were and connecting with others.

If you’ve been following along on my Instagram, you might’ve seen that Friday’s challenge was to highlight a fellow creative who has been an inspiration. There was no question in my mind that I wanted to introduce my sweet friend Natasha; she is an amazing woman of God, a small business owner, a wife, mama of 2 adorable littles, and a constant champion for community. I’ve never met Natasha in real life, yet the Lord has grown our friendship through the internet. We met thanks to The Influence Network and got to know each other more through google chats, text messages, and Instagram. And I am so so thankful. Natasha loves on me when I’m discouraged, inspires me to go for my dreams, and encourages me to lean into the Lord through it all.

I loved being able to share about, and encourage my friend Natasha - and it was so great to see every feed in the #instatidechallenge full of love for other creatives. But here's what really got me - after posting about Natasha on my feed, I went to my notifications and saw that a new insta-friend, Devyn Mollica, shared about me on her post! I was blown away. Devyn and I have never met in real life; our relationship exists solely inside the walls of Instagram (which I hope to change asap). But, she so sweetly shared about how I have inspired her through the words I have shared on my Instagram feed! I was so pleasantly surprised, and so so encouraged.

Feeling incredibly blessed by Devyn’s words I realized, community doesn’t have to be a tight-knit, knees touching as you squeeze onto the couch to share your hearts sort of thing. All it takes is a group of like-minded individuals encouraging one another and lifting each other up. And that, can be fostered anywhere; inside a photo-sharing app, through Facebook, google chat, or inside the four walls of a house.

If you struggle with disappointment in community can I challenge you to dig a bit deeper? Maybe you don’t have five really good friends who live within 20 minutes and get together every month... but, maybe you have 3 really great friends that you met online. You don't see them every day, but they are a constant source of encouragement with every text you exchange. Or maybe you just realized you have a connection with like-minded individuals through the gym, your work, or a group like the Rising Tide Society, who live the motto “community over competition”. Or maybe your mom, dad, and sister are your greatest advocates. Even though these circles may not fit into your picture-perfect idea of community, give them the credit they deserve, allow them to re-define your idea of community.

Whatever shape or form it make take, finding a group of like-minded people who encourage one another and lift each other up is so valuable. I am so thankful for the Rising Tide Society challenge. For the way it challenged my thinking and encouraged me to step further in pursuit of community. Although it might seem hard to come by, community is really simple to foster; and it all starts with you. Double click that random person’s pic on Instagram, leave a little love, or maybe step out like Devyn and make someone’s day by sharing sweet words of encouragement. That’s the beginning friends, and it’s all up to us.