It’s almost the end of 2025 already! It’s also that time of the year when we reflect on the old and make plans for the new. There’s something about the dusk of an old year transitioning into the dawn of a new year that signals an opportunity for a fresh start. Like the blank leaves of a new, unused book, waiting for all the stories to be written on its pages.

If you are like most people, you might already be making plans and setting goals which you hope to accomplish in the new year. However, while it’s great to make plans and to set goals which stretch us, it is also vital that we strike the right balance between stretching ourselves in a way that leads to growth, and overstretching ourselves in a way that leads to wilting. If you’ve ever used an elastic hair band, you will know that it can get to a point when it has been stretched so much and for too long, that it either loses its elasticity or it snaps, rendering it ineffective for its intended purpose.

I have realised that over time, if we don’t take care to ensure balance, we may end up like snapped bands, broken, ineffective, in danger of losing the essence of who God has called us to be. Having been guilty of overstretching myself in the past, I am prayerfully hoping to do things differently this year.

I have to admit though that I have found it quite challenging to know when I’m crossing the border from stretching to overstretching, from God challenging me to me overexerting myself.

There may indeed be times when God is stretching us and trusting us with more than we think we can handle, and there may be times when it is just us taking on much more than God wants us to. The question then is, how do we know when God is calling us to take on a challenge that will grow us, that will stretch our capacity, our faith, our trust, as opposed to when we are the ones pushing our elastic bandwidth to snapping territory?

In a blogpost I wrote earlier this month, I made a point which touched on the answer to this question, an answer I hoped to expand on in its own blog post (i.e. this one!)…  And the answer is …fruit! The way we can tell the difference is by looking at the fruit our lives are producing.

Someone used a very helpful and interesting illustration to explain this to me; the process of treading on grapes to produce wine. There are two methods for pressing grapes: foot treading, which is the traditional method, and mechanical pressing.

The foot treading method, which involves using bare feet to press the grapes, has the advantage of extracting the colour and tannins gently, without crushing the bitter seeds or stems. This creates wines that have a more refined balance of flavours and delicate features, avoiding the harshness and bitterness that over-extraction can cause. Beyond that, it is also a social event. Not only does it connect the winemaker with the wine in a more intimate way, it can also be a community activity that brings people together. Admittedly though, it does take a long time and can be quite labour intensive. Foot treading may be less popular now, but it is still used by high-end and artisanal wineries, and is the gold standard in the production of premium port wines in some regions.

Mechanical pressing and crushing on the other hand uses automated mechanical crusher-destemmers and pressers. These produce higher volumes and are much faster, but there is potential for mechanical methods to crush stems and seeds, which can release bitter flavours and harsh tannins into the wine. This may end up requiring further processing to achieve the desired balance of flavours. There is also the lack of human touch and connection which wine makers feel causes a loss of some of the delicate traits of the wine.

You might be wondering, where this is all leading to? The point of this illustration is to contrast the fruit produced when we are pressed and the fruit produced when we are completely crushed. 2 Corinthians 4:8 (NKJV) says “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair…”

If we imagine God as the one who does the stretching, the treading, the pressing, knowing that He is a gentle, loving Father, we know that He ‘treads’ gently, to ensure that our fruit flavours and features are enhanced. God knows us more than we even know ourselves (Psalm 139), and He knows just the right amount of treading required to bring out the best in us. His plans for us are for good not evil, and ultimately work for good, if we love God and are called according to His purpose (Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28). He is intimately involved in the process of shaping us to become all He wants us to be (Isaiah 64:8, Ephesians 2:10).

As such, when God is the one stretching us, His Spirit at work in us will continue to produce His fruit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23, ESV).

When we examine ourselves as the Bible encourages us to do regularly (2 Corinthians 13:5), and we do so in an authentic, honest, non-superficial way, guided by God’s Word and Spirit, we will know if we are veering from stretching to stretched and over-stretched. As we work on achieving our plans, we can ask ourselves, ‘are we still evidencing the fruit of the Spirit?’ ‘Are we loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and exhibiting self-control?’ (Galatians 5:22-23). If we find that this is not the fruit we are producing, then it may be time to take a step back and do some soul-searching before we take any further steps forward.

For it may be that because the pressing is turning into crushing, some bitter flavours and tannins have started to seep into our wine, undesirably changing the fruit we are producing, in a way that is not God’s desire or God’s best for us.

Make no mistake, God may ask us to do some very challenging things, acts that will stretch us in ways we can’t even imagine. However if God is the one asking us and leading us, His Spirit will still continue to bear fruit in us. Jesus had to carry out an incredibly difficult assignment, a sacrifice we can’t even fully grasp, dying an excruciating, shameful death to save us. Yet He could still show love to the ones who showed Him hate, praying for them and extending forgiveness in a moment of intense pain and suffering (Luke 23:34).

This has been such a vital lesson for me to learn, a lesson which, as I write this, I am still in the process of learning. I have recently felt under so much pressure from multiple angles. Suffice to say, my fruit examination reveals that some undesired tannins have made their way into my wine.

Although some things that have caused me stress have not necessarily been by choice, I acknowledge that there are areas where I need to step away from the driver’s seat and into the passenger seat. To ‘let go and let God’. To step back so that He can step forward. To continuously live according to the truth of Proverbs 3:5-6, which exhorts us to “Trust in and rely confidently on the LORD with all your heart And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way]” (AMP). To patiently trust in His gentle treading, even though it may feel slower than I may want, knowing that He is the master craftsman and winemaker, and with Him in charge, the fruit will be sweet, the flavours exquisite, the result, perfection personified. As Philippians 1:6 notes, “for I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (LSB).

As we reflect on this, I pray that we will have the grace and humility to trust God’s gentle work in us, to recognise when we are running ahead of Him and ourselves and taking on too much, but also to not be afraid to step up when He wants to stretch and grow us. May we consciously take the time to examine the fruit we are displaying. And as God continues to work in and through us, may the fruit of His Spirit… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, be ever manifest in our lives, it’s sweetness drawing others not just to us, but to our loving, gentle Father and Wine-maker. Amen and Amen.

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