Fruit — It’s not just a food group

Fruitful. 

You hear this word frequently tossed around in Christian circles. 

As Christians, we are to bear fruit with the Lord working through us.  I’ve always liked the concept and found it easy  to understand.

This weekend, though, I saw the definition of “bearing fruit” in all its glory.  I wish I had a picture to post on here because it really is something you have to see.  I had a chance to hang out with my mom and dad recently, far away from the city life. 

They have an assortment of fruit trees, and my three year old and I wandered out there to take a look at “the crop” this year.  That was when I saw the most amazing fruit display I have ever seen.  The plum tree was practically dripping with plums.  They were still green, but it was incredible.  It was as if every centimeter on that tree was just aching to show what it could do.  I didn’t stop to count them, but imagine a tree with a lot of plums on it and then imagine that amount doubled or tripled even, and you would have this tree.  Besides the huge amount on the tree, there were what seemed like hundreds on the ground, too. 

Now that tree was fruitful — filled to the brim with fruit.  Everywhere you look — fruit.

That tree wasn’t looking around saying, “What do I have to do to get a lot of fruit this year?  Maybe I need to help out the fig tree a little more.  Maybe I need to read more books about how to be a fruitful tree.  It looks like the hose spends most of its time over there, I had better move closer to it.”

No, the plum tree just did what it was created to do.  It received the sun that came its way, it absorbed the water that came by, and it did its plant thing to turn it all into nutrition.  As a result, fruit just came along as a byproduct.

Now, as all good metaphors, do, this story can break down in places once it is applied to our walk with the Lord, but for me, the take-away message is that I don’t have to always be striving to have fruit in my life. 

If I will just receive the things God provides to nourish my spirit, fruit will result.  He gives me the Bible, His presence, the ability to talk with Him in prayer, all of these are nourishment for my soul.  All I need to do is receive these things, put them in place in my life, and be the person He created me to be, not the person I think I should be. 

Wow, I never thought I would want to be like a plum tree.  But there you have it, I want to have every centimeter of my life covered in His fruit.