God's Expectation of Fruitfulness

[S] Isaiah 5:4 --
    ²He dug it all around, removed its stones,
         And planted it with the choicest vine
         And He built a tower in the middle of it
         And also hewed out a wine vat in it;
         Then He expected it to produce good grapes,
         But it produced only worthless ones. 
    ⁴"What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
         Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?

[O] As described in verse 2, God prepares his vineyard with maximum effort (not that God needs any effort but this is described in our terms of expression) because He desires it to produce good fruits.  I know when I put in my best efforts in something I do it to produce the best result.  If I prepare a nice meal, I would like those eating it to enjoy it fully, not just to nibble on it and then dump into the trash can later.  Again, using my limited expression, God expects his vineyard (my life) which He cultivated so carefully to bear good grapes (fruits).  In fact, because He had planted the grape vines, His vineyard is going to bear some grapes.  It's a matter of what type of grapes it will bear -- good ones or worthless ones.  Haven't you eaten honeydew melons which tasted flat like cucumbers?  God doesn't want my life to produce fruits that are tasteless and worthless.

[A] One of the things I still try to master is keeping flower plants alive more than a few weeks.  Why is it that these flower pots look so fresh until they come home?  I water it and carefully place them in the sunny areas in the house but eventually the flowers whither, leaves fall off and it's struggle just to keep it alive let alone keeping flowers intact.    I sure hope to keep my spiritual life thriving better than I do with my flower pots by examining my life daily by reflecting various aspects of my life against God's word.  This week, God's been reminding me to focus more on my family by thinking, planning, and praying for my family members.  It seems my mind's been pre-occupied with work and church ministry leaving very little room in my mind for engaging pro-actively in family matters.  This doesn't mean I don't participate in family matters but I need to be more pro-active and think for longer term perspective so I can better guide my family.

[P] Dear God, thank You for reminding me how I need to create more margin around my life to think and plan for my family's overall "health" in order for me to act as a good shepherd for my family members.  I don't want to assume they'll be OK as I see them every day, but just like how the flower pots I see everyday whithers if I don't take care of them daily, I realize I must do that for my family members also.  Please continue to shower down Your wisdom for me to do just that.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.