As I prayed for spiritual wisdom this morning & asked God to illuminate the scriptures, I picked up my “Glacier Bay, Alaska” Ink pen (praying for Alaska & their Tsunami warning) & new beautiful fabric & sequin covered journal I got for my birthday & randomly wrote Luke 3:9 –
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down & thrown into the fire”
&
I asked God, “that’s it…? are you going to speak to me??” (even though He had, & I just wasn’t willing to be patient)
I sat my ink pen down & thought, “I guess I should read the Bible, then He will speak to me, probably?”
So, I opened up my Bible where I had hoarded the most church bulletins, 2 Samuel?
I read there for a bit & was captivated by how wild king David was & then felt a pull to Luke. Read there for a time & couldn’t stop thinking about my apple trees & my orchard to-do list. I couldn’t shake “the fruit of the Spirit” so I flipped the pages to Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law”
I began pondering my first apples that my little home orchard is producing this year. I had taken a few photos yesterday to remember my first fruits & found myself in my “iPhone photos” proudly contemplating.
I was immediately reminded of a time when I didn’t fully grasp the meaning of “the fruit of the Spirit” as a young girl. I grew up coloring pictures of fruits (apples, pears, grapes etc.) in Sunday school that said “love, joy, peace patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” that Paul wrote about in Galatians Chapter 5 verse 22-23.
As a child, I took this very literally. I loved eating fruit because of this teaching. I thought, the more fruit I eat, the happier I will make God (so cute & pure). Even in my misunderstanding, God looked into my naïve heart & saw a love for Him & a desire to want to please Him & know Him & that makes Him as proud as I am admiring my first apples. 🥹
As I came to Him, head in my arms, over my bible this morning like a game of “Heads Up, Seven Up”, asking Him for understanding, He showed up, as He always does, & always will, with a lesson that may not be what scholars decipher in “the fruit of the Spirit” scriptures in Galatians, but made me feel heard & loved by my creator nonetheless!
That is what is so amazing about The Bible. It is Gods LIVING word. It is alive! He shows up for those who seek Him & ask, & teaches us individually in ways we can understand.
Matthew 7:7-8 – 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edge sword, piercing to the division of soul and of the spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” Hebrews 4:12
As an orchardist who has tried & failed numerous times in my orchard, I am understanding all the Bible fruit parables more fully. My baby apple trees need much care in order to flourish & produce fruit. They need ample nutrition, water, sunlight, mulching, weeding, spray for bugs & disease etc.
Fruit is a telling sign of the condition of a tree. You can tell how healthy a tree is on the inside, based off the fruit it produces. The “fruit” or “signs, evidence, proof” of someone who has the Spirit of God upon them is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control.
The condition of the tree like height, leaves/bark condition, & fruit production all indicate if the tree has been cared for & has been given what it needs to flourish like: shelter from animals (who like to chew on them & rub against them causing them to break & die), protection against bugs & disease (to produce green luscious leaves), & pruning (allowing the tree to grow & produce more fruit).
God is our orchardist.
We trust Him to plant us in the correct location for ample sunlight & drainage, & to do all the things we need in order to produce fruit for Him. We are planted by Him & for Him.
As an orchardist, I often prune my trees to help them grow taller & to produce more fruit, but I really struggled with this at first. It pained me to have to cut back my tiny twig trees. I remember the first time we “accidently” pruned a baby tree; my husband was weed eating around the trees & accidently cut my baby tree I had just planted. Tyler felt terrible, he feared the tree would die. To our surprise, it grew faster than the others & is currently the tallest tree in the orchard! I have tears typing this because that is what the Bible says God does for us! Those of us that produce fruit, He prunes! Because it helps us flourish & grow & produce even MORE fruit!
Just like when my husband cut back that little tree & we couldn’t see how it would survive such a cut back, the tree came back bigger, taller, stronger than all the other trees in the orchard.
If you are in a season of pruning, I hope this truth will encourage you. Pruning is required to grow & flourish even though its hard & confusing in the moment.
I also love this quote: “I asked the Lord for flowers & it started to rain”
In other words, it takes something seemingly “inconvenient” or a “set-back” & patience to flourish & be all that we are created to be. When we receive pruning when we ask God for fruit & rain when we asked for flowers, it’s hard because we want the fruit & flowers without the pruning & rain. But patience & trust is required to get where we want/need to be.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15:1-11
I am a branch of The Vine incessantly striving to abide, always in great need of pruning
Matthew 7:15-20“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”
The secret to bearing fruit?
Abiding, trusting, waiting.
In love,
kortney sue
