Once you've lived in California like we did for four years, you understand why people love it there. If you can live with the thought that an earthquake can happen at any time (which it did while we were there, in 1989), it's fabulous! Within four hours of San Francisco, you can be in the mountains, on the beach, in the redwood forest, or in wine country.
This August I discovered another wine-producing area, that is to say, not Napa or Sonoma, in southern California: Temecula, where my nephew and niece were married. My daughters and I visited the vineyards and did some wine-tasting--we loved it all so much we joined one of the vineyards. We'll be tasting the 'fruit of the vine' for months to come.
To see the grapes dripping off the vines was thrilling. The vineyards are not lush, which surprised me. The soil is dry and dusty and stands in stark contrast to the green foliage of the vines. When you get up close, you see the grapes huddled behind the leaves, protected from the scorching sun. How they coax those plants into producing such a bounty (not to mention the wine!) is astonishing.
So much of my life has been striving to accomplish things--getting a degree, teaching, moving, raising kids, paying the bills. There has been so much rushing around, (I've counted 18 moves in my life so far), that having the time, at this stage of my life, to be 'still' has been a luxury.
God longs for us to 'be still and know that I am God' (Psalm 46:10)--in fact, when we do, and we allow ourselves to get connected to the true Vine, an amazing thing happens: we bear fruit. And we don't even have to move a muscle.
"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." John 15: 5
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