For my friends in Oakland.

A word received as I prepared for a worship night with friends who are ministering in Oakland.

Stay the course  (John 15)

Remain in me and I in you and you will bear much fruit

You are producing fruit that remains.

I see an orchard of beautiful trees, vast.

Some trees look healthy and strong and they are.

Some trees look healthy and strong and they are not.

Some trees wear their scars so all can see.

In one orchard you are finding trees in every condition. Dead, alive, broken, restored, twisted, hanging on for dear life, trusting again, closed, open, angry, wounded, hostile, peaceful.

Trees that have been starved for care for years, broken branches, twisted roots, beetle infested bark, but they are all unique, loved and valued.

Some don’t know how to draw up the water and others don’t trust the source.

Don’t drown them by dousing them over and over or their roots will rot, but when you DO bring water, make sure there is MUCH nutrient in the water so that the little they draw up is rich with God's revelation.

Soak yourselves deeply in the presence of God so that your conversations and words are full of spiritual depth and insight. Not a heady knowledge but words that are drenched in the revelation that comes only from time in the sacred place. 

These words are sweet like honey from the comb, sweet and rich with nutrients will not only refresh, but provide for the spiritual growth that has already begun.

And the orchard is starting to heal. You ARE changing the soil. You are creating patches where sunlight can come in. You are bringing buckets and hoses and drip lines.  Some trees are reaching branches heavenward. Some are moving with the wind of the Spirit, maybe not yet full branches waving, but still… leaves are shaking and stretching toward the sunlight. And in due season, some will become fertile again, throwing their acorns across the land to reproduce the new life they have found in Christ.

And so, abide in me, steadfast the evening tide…

And each plays a role:

The Sun

The air

The soil

The bees

The birds

The water

The nutrients

The gardener

The workers

Each ordained for their task and role within the reconstruction of the orchard. 

All my love,

Amy