Fruit Trees
- Heidi Eva Jones
- Jun 29, 2023
- 5 min read
Volume 12 Issue 6
Greeting in His Name,
As we embark upon another month, I pray you have been diligent in the Lord. That you have been listening for His voice and following His lead. Have you let Him plant a new seed in you, or have you let Him till the soil to cultivate something that is already there? Or is He removing all the weeds and debris that get in the way of growth?
At this moment, close your eyes and let God pour over you the water of His word that brings wisdom, strength, and peace. It can happen right NOW! So with that being said, today's blog is entitled Fruit Trees. Hope you find some inspiration, conviction, and queries.
shalom and love,
heidi
Early in life, I would hear older people say, "You know the tree by the fruit" or "The fruit doesn't fall too far from the tree," not knowing that this was a little bit out of context but yet scriptural. Matthew 7:15-20 GWT "Beware of false prophets. They come to you disguised as sheep, but in their hearts they are vicious wolves. You will know them by what they produce. "People don't pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles, do they? In the same way every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit. Any tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into a fire. So you will know them by what they produce." What I mean by out of context is this scripture refers to false prophets or preachers, not people in general. I understand our forefathers ascribed to us that we would be like our mom or dad. And in some ways, we are. In truth, take me for example, the overall person my mom was, was GOoD. If you asked anybody, they would say she was an unpaid, unlicensed, willing-to-listen counselor. My mom knew the art of listening. Conversely, some points about my mom's life were not good, which I won't go into. But overall, she produced a good daughter and a host of nieces and nephews, and God knows who else she touched. Of course, I do feel that you will know what type of person you are dealing with by what they produce and show you. And it's good that we have at least two types of people to deal with, good or bad because if I had to fathom dealing with any other, I would have a problem. I asked myself, though, is there a median? Try this. Take a survey of people you know. Look at them holistically. Remember that we all have some good and bad about us, but what is your outlook about them in the end? Are they good fruit or bad fruit? Is there overall produce fresh or rotten? Let me tell you something, I have produced some rotten things in life, but I believe if you were to speak to most people, they would say that I am fresh, alive, wholesome, and good. I don't want us to fool ourselves into thinking we don't have any bad. We do, but our bad points should not overrule, outweigh, or even rise above our good. You will know them by their fruit. Of course, the writer of Matthew was talking about prophets, and there are some sheisty preachers out there, and there are some GOoD preachers out there. The scripture warns us that we will know what type of preacher we have by what they produce, and we should also be able to identify by what they try to feed us. If the fruit is fresh, alive, wholesome, with rebuke at times, it's good. But it's bad if it's rotten, of no substances, bland, and just good talk all the time. Scripture tells you to watch out!
I am still trying to figure out why I went there, but on to what I thought I was to be writing about. Psalm 1:1-3 CEV God blesses those people who refuse evil advice and won't follow sinners or join in sneering at God. Instead, the Law of the LORD makes them happy, and they think about it day and night. They are like trees growing beside a stream, trees that produce fruit in season and always have leaves. Those people succeed in everything they do. This is where I was headed. Yes! God says we are like trees, all of us, good or bad. We all have the potential to produce at the right time that it may all work well for us. But we also have the potential to fail if we adhere to things that don't reflect or produce godly character. Our daily goal should be that someone can pick a good piece of fruit off of us. They should be able to find solace in our mouths, help in our hands, go the extra mile in our feet, love in our eyes, warmth from our hearts, and a good piece of laughter sometimes. Now look at the second word in the sentence just above; it says 'should,' meaning that's not always the case. But even if it isn't, don't give up on your fellow man, nor yourself; it may just be a rainy day for them, and you may need to be all those things for them. If you are by the stream, and I believe the stream to be Jesus, then you have a going supply of wisdom for each day. When I meet young people, one of my goals is to be the EXTREME ENCOURAGER. I want our young people, who face so many issues in society today, issues I didn't grow up with, to know they can be ANYTHING they want. I often ask them what they want to be. I ask because I see TREES. Trees of potential and growth if they put their best foot forward. Now I don't want to leave out the older folk because as long as you have breath in your body, you can be ANYTHING too.
RECALL: Something funny happened to me in the children's church years ago. I asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" They all sang lawyers, teachers, beauticians, artists, etc. And knowing most of their personalities, I could see them as such. But one young lady walked up to me, looked me dead in my eyes with sincerity, and said, "And Ms. Heidi what do you want to be?" I stopped dead cold, and my mind went back to middle school, and I told them, "I would love to work for NASA." Now if I am a tree planted by the river, Jesus, that's not too far-fetched. No one can go after our dreams but us. Now God can intervene, and I pray you are as open to His intervention as I am because He can see the future, and we don't want to accept a chicken coop when we can have a mansion. Do something with me, STAND UP, and let the wind of Christ blow through your leaves. Let Him ruffle you up a little. There may still be some roots that need to extend in your tree.
In closing, I would like to share some scriptures from the Contemporary English Version: Proverbs 3:18. Wisdom is a life-giving tree, the source of happiness for all who hold on to her. Proverbs 11:30 Live right, and you will eat from the life-giving tree. And if you act wisely, others will follow. Psalm 94:14 They will be like trees that stay healthy and fruitful, even when they are old.
I say LIVE, live in fullness every day!
LIFE QUOTE
“And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything."
-William Shakespeare
Let Us Laugh!
Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.
Hope to see you Next Month....
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