Nobody Wrecked the Vineyard

Solomon took a walk one day and passed a ruined field. “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.”

Notice what he doesn’t say. Nobody burned the vineyard. No army came through. It just wasn’t tended. “Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.”

That is how most things fall apart. A marriage, a body, a walk with God. Not with one dramatic event, but with years of small neglect. And then it seems to arrive all at once, like a robber.

Solomon’s response is worth copying: “Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.” Take a walk past your own field today. What needs tending before the thorns take over?