Embracing Unhindered Growth
It was a balmy 80-degree day in mid-June when I stopped at a vineyard in Suttons Bay, MI on my way back from a writing retreat. The once-shy vines, timid during bud break like a small child hiding behind her mother, had now exploded into full, wild extroversion.
The leaves spread flat and broad, and the branches threw out leaves and lateral shoots in every direction, resembling a teenager with an untamed mop of hair. Tendrils wrapped around the wire trellis, curling as if preparing for another leap toward the sky.
Dave, dressed in a clean cream linen collared shirt, pointed to the wildly growing vines and explained, “From bud break until it flowers, a vine can grow inches a day. It doesn’t even recognize the fruit it’s hanging. It is only focused on growing.”
Emergence
After the vulnerability of bud break, there is a sudden shift. Those first leaves, drawing photosynthesis from the sun, propel the plant forward rapidly and abundantly. When we emerge from seasons of dormancy and face the late spring sun, we find ourselves collaborating with God and others in expansive, wild, and free ways. We open ourselves up to the world, receiving the many gifts of sunshine, rain, and warmth, filling us with energy and light.
We all have moments like this, right?
It’s getting so engrossed in a project that you forget to eat.
It is the surge of energy you feel when you finally get in the saddle at a new job.
It’s the great bursts of light and energy of children at play.
It’s the joy and anticipation of beginning to share your ideas and gifts to serve those around you.
These are the days when you wake up with a spring in your step. The depression lifts, your vision clarifies, and you try new things, build new relationships, and start new, God-inspired ventures. You’ve passed through the winter season, and now you’re ready to produce fruit. The long dark stretch of winter is still fresh in your mind, so you must allow yourself the freedom and joy of opening up the gates to run.
Unhindered Growth
During the growing phase, the vine isn't concerned about the fruit or the end results. Its sole focus is on growing up and out without restraint. The vine doesn't worry about the harvest; it has the freedom to grow, try, and risk without fear. It’s not about the outcome but about trusting the process, letting go of what we have to “show” for ourselves, and surrendering to the creative flow of life.
Growth happens when we let go of others' opinions and take risks. We grow by listening to that inner voice and allowing the creative flow within us to express itself. Explosive growth doesn’t come from striving to produce fruit but from yielding to become what we already are.
John O’Donohue beautifully captures this: “When we are creative, we help the unknown become known, the visible to be seen, and the rich darkness within us to become illuminated. Each of us is emerging in every moment. When we discover our creativity, we begin to attend to the constant emergence of who we are.” – Beauty, the Invisible Embrace
Creativity and Abundance
In the growing season, the vine focuses on growing up and out, participating in life’s abundance. Hildegard von Bingen calls this “viriditas,” the greening power of the Divine. It’s the creative power of life that flows within all things, the Spirit of God.
Consider the Spirit’s flow in Scripture:
In Genesis 1, the Spirit hovers over creation, and with a word, new creation emerges and multiplies in all its forms.
At the start of Jesus’ ministry, the Spirit rests upon him like a dove at his baptism, setting off explosive growth that teaches, heals, and delivers thousands.
In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit rests upon the disciples at Pentecost, empowering them to take risks and share the Gospel, resulting in three thousand baptisms.
Whatever your place of creativity; the place your true self thrives, you need to know that there is a wellspring within you that is infinite. Because it is fueled by the boundless love of God that can never be tapped out, never run dry. The Spirit is always hovering over us, yearning to creatively express His love through your life in abundant, multiplicative ways beyond what you could ever envision. So many more possibilities than you could ever even actualize in your lifetime.
In the growing season, we become a channel for God’s love to overflow a wellspring of creativity at will. Our real work is to participate in the Spirit’s flow. As Joseph Chilton Pearce states, “We must accept that this creative pulse within us is God’s creative pulse itself.”
Which means painting on miles of canvas.
Or writing thousands of pages that may never get read.
It’s planting lettuce and watching it multiply faster than you can possibly eat.
It’s generating so many ideas in the workplace that not all of them can be used.
It’s coming up with multiple creative solutions to the same problem.
It’s coming up with hundreds of new ways to love people.
It’s generating millions of lines of coding.
It’s discovering 1,000 ways not to make a lightbulb.
Embracing the Growing Journey
The creative life force of the Spirit often comes in fits and starts, manifesting in wild, unruly, and confusing ways. If you’re a writer or artist, you know it takes thousands of hours or pages to understand a piece's shape and direction. Instead of seeing this as a waste or failure, we can reframe it like Thomas Edison, acknowledging that sometimes it takes 10,000 attempts to create a lightbulb.
Don’t let fear stop you. Don’t let the fear of wastefulness stop you from opening yourself to the creative force within that wants to get out. Our work is designed to be an expression of God’s love in the world, an overflowing and generous offering to those around us. And, as we tap into its flow, it is cleaning you out as it goes, like running water through a drain that has been clogged for months and has finally broken free.
I love what Brenda Ueland says about this, “Why should we all use our creative power…? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold, and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money.”
When we are allowing God’s abundant love and creativity to flow through us, we become more fully who we are and who we were made to be. If our identity is in the source of the vine, not the grapes, we can grow without knowing where it’s going. Trust the loving vinedresser who knows. Your job is to grow, become, unfold, and unfurl into who you already are.
