What we can learn about being productive Christians from a garden hose: diversity produces fruitfulness

Our garden needs water in multiple, spatially separated, spaces. We draw that water from a pond through an underground pipe and use different kinds of hoses to get the water to where it’s needed within the garden: a leader hose, contractor’s hoses, and drip irrigation hoses.  Each performs a distinct function.  The leader hose connects the contractor’s hoses to the underground pipe. The contactor’s hoses move water from there to the drip hoses within each bed. The drip hoses actually deliver the water to individual plants. As distinct as those kinds of hoses are, they each serve a common purpose: to deliver life giving water.

None of those types of hoses could perform their particular functions without the others. The drip hoses would have no water to deliver if that water was not first moved by the contractor’s hoses. Those hoses could not move that water if the leader hose had not first connected them to the pipe. Each hose plays an indispensable part, but none could play its part without the others.

And none of those hoses could adequately perform the others’ functions. The contractor’s hoses cannot deliver water to individual plants with the precision needed; more water would be wasted than properly used. The drip hoses would be a woefully inefficient means to move water from point to point within the garden. The leader hose could only water plants within a few feet of the pipe. But put together, those hoses cover our entire garden.

The same dynamics are present within the Church. We each have different natures and capabilities, but we all serve a common, transcendent, purpose—delivering God’s goodness to a parched world. None of us can fulfil our parts in that mission without others who are different from us, and none of us can adequately perform the tasks that God designed others to perform. And most importantly, none of us can do that without God.

Those concepts are not new (See Romans 12:4-8, Romans 12:4-30, Ephesians 4:11-13), but they are especially relevant in these polarized times. That polarization means that fulfilling God’s purpose is all the more urgent, just as a properly functioning irrigation system is more urgently needed during dry spells. 

So what does that mean for our day-to-day lives? Several things come to mind. 

First, and most importantly, we must be connected to the source: God. None of our hoses can do any good unless they are securely connected to the pipe. The same is true of individual believers: we cannot deliver God’s goodness unless we abide in Jesus and move in the power of the Holy Spirit. So we must secure and maintain our connection to God through regular time in scripture and ongoing prayer.

Second, we need to recognize that we do have a mission—delivering God’s goodness in this increasingly distressed world.  He does not bless us solely for our own sake, He blesses us so we can serve others. We are each created and called to do that in different ways, but we each have that purpose. We need to get busy doing that in whatever way(s) God equipped us. It’s time to get up from the pews and get down to actively serving others.

Third, we must realize that we cannot fulfill that mission by ourselves; we must work with others who are different from us to get it done. Differences and diversity are good and vital; they give us capabilities we need but lack on our own. We must get out of our bubbles to achieve what God wants done.

Fourth, we must make real connections with those who are different from us. Just as one type of hose must have a solid connection with other, different, types of hoses to complete their common purpose, we must genuinely connect with others who are different from us to achieve what God expects of us. 

Do those things come naturally? Not really, but they are doable if we connect to God, ask Him to help us, and let Him flow through us.