God is faithful.
I'm meeting with an old friend starting this Wednesday for some much needed fellowship and maybe a bible study-type thing. I don't really know what it will end up being like and I don't really care. I just know that it is going to be awesome.
And another thought. When I was younger when I read the verse, "a good tree bears good fruit" I always imagined I was the tree and the fruit was how others respond to the way I live my life. Example: A "good" Christian will produce other "good" Christians.
I don't think that's entirely wrong, but I do think I've been overlooking all the maintenance required on the tree itself. Maybe I expected to sort of see good fruit automatically. It was disappointing. After all, I could go my whole life without seeing any "fruit".
But we also bear fruit in our own lives. Our own growth, spiritual integrity, transformation of the mind... It's important fruit, too. Why do I always overlook that? Typical self-centered hypocrisy. Where is the line between personal growth and investing in others?
1 comment:
I'm always expecting to see fruit automatically, which normally leaves me frustrated and disappointed. I like your thoughts bets, and it's a great question. I read something this morning along the lines of this in this prayer book that I'm going through. The author gave a quote from one of the Desert Mothers, and I will pass this on to you. Amma Theodora wrote "Let us strive to enter by the narrow gate. Just as the trees if they have not stood before the winter's storms cannot bear fruit, so it is with us; this present age is a storm and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven." Maybe we all have a slightly distorted view of what good fruit is, or the other ways that good fruit can play out in our lives. I've also thought that "good" christians will produce other "good" christians, which can be true, but I think there is so much other good fruit too.
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