Last
year, while visiting in Northern Calfornia, with my husband
James, I was privileged to be able to tour Napa
& Sonoma Valleys, which are located in Sonoma County,
Calif., world famous for it's wines. The beautiful lush,
green valleys there were filled with mile after mile of
groomed vineyards, with the mountains cascading as a
backdrop. Oh,it was truly breathtaking! So many
different famous vineyards were right next door to each other,
it seemed. I couldn't help but smile, after seeing all
of those famous vineyards, while thinking back to
a simpler time, when I was a little girl, here in South
Carolina, and of my grandmother's own
"Scuppernong" grapevine.
Yes, I remember well my
Grandmother's Scuppernong grapevine which grew near the
back of her house. I am sure that many of you also
have fond memories of eating scuppernongs, a variety of
southern grape, also called "swamp grapes". My brother
and I would love to sneak into the middle of the
grapevine, hidden from her sight by the thick foliage of the
vines, and pick and eat some of the succulent grapes!
Whenever she caught us in there, she would always shout
for us to get away from those grapes and leave them
alone! She was saving them to make homemade jelly and
didn't want us to eat all of them.
Later we would be
mighty glad to get to eat those wonderful homemade jelly
sandwiches, cooked and canned by my
Grandmother's loving hands. We would then be very glad
that we had been scolded to "leave those grapes
alone!" I have very fond memories of watching my
Grandmother stirring the jelly to see if it was congealed
right, and helping her to put the jelly into jelly jars, and
take them to her old time "Pantry" , carefully placing
them on the shelves as if they were treasures. My days
of sneaking my Grandmother's grapes were short lived, however,
after the day I saw a snake crawling through the vines.
I was never in need of any prompting to stay out of the grape
arbour after that, as I wanted to stay as far away
from the grapevine as I could get!
I was
shocked to later discover that the acutual spelling of
the word "scuppernong" (since we simply called them
"Scuppanines") in southern slang. Doing a little
research into the origin of the scuppernong, I found that it
derives its name from a River in North Carolina. and during
the 17th and 18th centuries, cuttings of the scuppernong
mother vine were grown around Scuppernong, a small town in
North Carolina. The name of the town and river
eventually came to be used in reference to the Scuppernong
grapes.
Now, there is a wonderful lesson to be
learned from the grapevine. Many of you might be
familiar with John 15: 5 and the parable of the Vine and
the Branches:
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do
nothing.
Joh 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is
cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
This particular parable is one of my
favorites, with Jesus stating that He is the True Vine and
that we are the branches. Also, in John 15:1 the
scripture states that God is the husbandman, or owner of
the vineyard. The main point of this parable,
however, is that we can do nothing unless we stay
attached to the VINE (Jesus) and receive the life-giving sap
from the vine. When a branch does not receive it's
lifegiving flow from the Vine, it will wither and die.
It is also stated that the branches which do not
receive the lifegiving flow, and which wither, will be plucked
up and burnt. So, the main point is that we MUST
stay attached to Jesus, who is the "True Vine."
Also, when we are attached to the vine, we don't have to
force ourselves to bear fruit, it will happen naturally, since
the lifegiving "sap" will flow into us and naturally produce
fruit. All we have to do is stay "attached" to the
Vine. Then the fruits of the Spirit, as Paul referred to
in Galations 5:22, such as love, joy, peace,patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control, will become evident in our lives.
This
fruit that becomes evident in our lives will then be
plucked by those who are hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, and our "fruit" will be a testimony that we are
followers of Jesus Christ. Also, we as Christians cannot
sit back and be complacent, we must ever be watchful to stay
attached to the Vine and not be diverted from our true
mission, which is to bear much "fruit", thereby helping to
bring many others to Christ Jesus when they see our
fruit! May we all be ever watchful to stay attached to
the True Vine, Jesus Christ.
In conclusion, It
was very nice to see all of those wonderful world-class
vineyards in California. But, as for me, well I am
still just a true Southern country girl at heart, so give me
my warm fuzzy childhood memories of my Grandmother's old
scuppernong grapevine! Yes, I'll take some good old
country southern scuppernongs anyday, and pass the grape
jelly please, I think I am going to make me a jelly sandwich
while I am at it! Ya'll come back now, ya hear?
God Bless You All!
Marty Clayton
Banfield
email: lastdays@bellsouth.net
Assembled by Kat |
