How Do You Measure a Year?

 

John 15:1-17

 

“How do you measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In 525,600 minutes -

how do you measure a year in the life?

How about love?”

 

These are the opening lyrics from the song, “Season of Love” from the play Rent. Ultimately, this song is asking how we use our time; our talents; our treasure. How do we find purpose and meaning in our life?

 

In some ways, these lyrics parallel Jesus’ words in today’s passage. “I am the vine; you

are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.”  Jesus is calling us to bear fruit. He is calling us to invest our lives in those around us. And he is asking us how we will measure our fruit.

 

But life can be long and difficult at times. It is hard to invest in others all the time. People are so frustrating. Jesus gives us a hint of how to be consistent in bearing fruit. “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

 

To use another metaphor, bearing fruit is not an individual sport. It’s a team sport. A player on a team needs to listen to the coach, do what they say; not just to get playing time, but to be a better player, to help the team win. To produce fruit we must remain in the vine.

 

To bear fruit doesn’t require you to be a pastor or a missionary. As my pastor says each week, “We are all ministers”. We are ministers not just when we do church activities, but at work, at home, driving in the car, talking to the neighbor or even going through the drive through at McDonalds.

 

“525,600 minutes!

525,000 journeys to plan.

525,600 minutes.

How can you measure the life of a woman or man?”

 

That’s a lot of minutes to do something with. What will you do with your minutes this year, or today for that matter? How do you measure a year in your life?