The Caregiver of the Vineyard
Have you ever had the understanding that in every relationship if it be spouse, family, friends, and even co-workers, that there is a caregiver of it... And because there is a caregiver of it, are you the caregiver? We look at a caregiver as one who takes care of an older adult way in the senior years of life who needs help with the ever day duties. However, that is not the case. We are all caregivers of a relationship. It may be that we are that one to some and yet some to that one.
What ever the relationship, parents, siblings, friends, community, the neighbors and even co-workers, I would have to say that if you are the caregiver of the relationship it will either flourish with how the garden of your heart is or how the attitudes of your emotions run. And based on those two elements, how are you taking care of the relationships, Nurturing or Neglecting?
Amos 3:3 gives a thought provoking question, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed? And so I ponder this thought, "Can a relationship or friendship grow if no one wants to be the caregiver?" I have caught myself say, "I won't budge one more move until He takes control or even puts effort into moving us forward!" And then the tit-for-tat begins which it's definition in itself is harsh. An equivalent given in return (as for an injury) : retaliation in kind; as for an injury. Dare say at this point, we are not nurturing a relationship or friendship here but neglecting and wounding it. At this point we have to ask ourselves, who is the caregiver again...No one is!
So we go nowhere for a very long period of time. We fall way back from our journey we are distant. Emotions and feelings gone wild; neglecting everything and producing so much junk that we stink. And everyone can smell the stink but us. Oh but I'm Right! we say. And yet, is being right letting us both walk in our purpose? And if it is effecting this relationship or friendship, it most definitely has to be effecting all the others. Are we a pretense?
...And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Genesis 4:2. We all know the story of Cain and Abel and if we look closely that even from the start, Abel was a keeper to sheep and Cain a tiller to the ground. Abel in the natural took care of a living thing and kept it. Cain tilled the ground and was to produce fruit. However, he asked a question of something that in his spirit told on himself, "And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"
Let's hear it another way, "I don't have time, I'm too busy to care about you." Those words alone are an injury and perhaps a killer to a relationship of every kind.
Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. Matthew 25:45. Feed, clothes and visit your relationships and friendships. God has given us great gifts that some may not even have the privileged to have; but He calls us to take care of them, it is required of us as he just said in Matthew.
It's not so much our words that nurture, but our actions; behind the action a motive. Let pure love be the motive and not bitterness. How you treat your own family also determines how you treat others. Pretense will never rise above what is Authentic. Be determined to be the caregiver of your vineyards or relationships and friendships. Be an Authentic caregiver that produces good fruit and purpose filled lives; for much has been given to us and much is required of us.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:~1 Peter 1:22
What ever the relationship, parents, siblings, friends, community, the neighbors and even co-workers, I would have to say that if you are the caregiver of the relationship it will either flourish with how the garden of your heart is or how the attitudes of your emotions run. And based on those two elements, how are you taking care of the relationships, Nurturing or Neglecting?
Amos 3:3 gives a thought provoking question, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed? And so I ponder this thought, "Can a relationship or friendship grow if no one wants to be the caregiver?" I have caught myself say, "I won't budge one more move until He takes control or even puts effort into moving us forward!" And then the tit-for-tat begins which it's definition in itself is harsh. An equivalent given in return (as for an injury) : retaliation in kind; as for an injury. Dare say at this point, we are not nurturing a relationship or friendship here but neglecting and wounding it. At this point we have to ask ourselves, who is the caregiver again...No one is!
So we go nowhere for a very long period of time. We fall way back from our journey we are distant. Emotions and feelings gone wild; neglecting everything and producing so much junk that we stink. And everyone can smell the stink but us. Oh but I'm Right! we say. And yet, is being right letting us both walk in our purpose? And if it is effecting this relationship or friendship, it most definitely has to be effecting all the others. Are we a pretense?
...And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Genesis 4:2. We all know the story of Cain and Abel and if we look closely that even from the start, Abel was a keeper to sheep and Cain a tiller to the ground. Abel in the natural took care of a living thing and kept it. Cain tilled the ground and was to produce fruit. However, he asked a question of something that in his spirit told on himself, "And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?"
Let's hear it another way, "I don't have time, I'm too busy to care about you." Those words alone are an injury and perhaps a killer to a relationship of every kind.
Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. Matthew 25:45. Feed, clothes and visit your relationships and friendships. God has given us great gifts that some may not even have the privileged to have; but He calls us to take care of them, it is required of us as he just said in Matthew.
It's not so much our words that nurture, but our actions; behind the action a motive. Let pure love be the motive and not bitterness. How you treat your own family also determines how you treat others. Pretense will never rise above what is Authentic. Be determined to be the caregiver of your vineyards or relationships and friendships. Be an Authentic caregiver that produces good fruit and purpose filled lives; for much has been given to us and much is required of us.
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:~1 Peter 1:22
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