Daily PresenceSample

I was watching a documentary about wine making a couple of weeks ago and the vintner was talking about how around harvest time he walks the vineyard each morning to taste and test the grapes for sugar content. He’s looking for the perfect time at which the grapes have the highest sugar content so that they can produce the most wine from the pressing. The person interviewing him for the documentary asked him, “How long does it take you to start harvesting once you’ve determined the grapes are perfect?” The vineyard director responded: “Immediately.” He had people standing by each morning ready to begin the process of picking the grapes; a process still done by hand even today.

Notice the care and intensity in which the vintner watches over his fruit. His whole life revolves around when he picks grapes to ensure the best product. Undoubtedly, if you asked this vintner to sacrifice a portion of the first pickings, he’d think you were crazy! Oftentimes, the first pickings are the best because they are at peak ripeness. They produce the sweetest juice and best tasting wine. Why would he sacrifice it?

I can feel myself feeling this way about my time. Wake up in the morning and pray before anything else? What about my coffee? What about getting dressed for work? When I have a day off I often want to start a new cooking project, throw something on the smoker, or go for a bike ride, but what about spending that time with God instead? What about taking the most precious first-fruits of my day and sacrificing them to God?

In our reading today, while offering the first fruits, the priest is charged with saying: ‘With this gift I acknowledge to the Lord your God that I have entered the land he swore to our ancestors he would give us.’ The Jews did this in remembrance of the promises of God. In the good times and the bad, they made sacrifices to show that above all circumstances, they trusted in God’s promises and his provision.

It’s easy for us to set aside time when we have lots of it, and God is still honored by this. But, let us not forget in the days where it feels we have no time to sacrifice, that it is only because of the promises, provision, and grace of God that we are where we are today.