Monday Musings - Fruit - Part 2

Whew - I have had a busy last week full of really great things.  I am so grateful for the people that I have in my life and the opportunities that the Lord gives me.

Have you been thinking about the fruit in your life and 

the pruning that is taking place?

Here is another sign that was in the tool shed at the apple orchard (if you have no idea what I am talking about, check out last Monday's posting!)

Pruning is for a purpose - it is not just random chopping off branches for fun.  It is deliberate and intentional.  This is just as true of the pruning that the Lord does in our lives.

*Pruning thins out a tree so that it can get air and light.  We can also find ourselves needing this.  We get too bogged down in this old world.  We get too busy and we sometimes feel like we are trapped in darkness.  The Lord wants us to breathe freely and to have His light all around us.  Something may need to go for this to happen.

*Pruning lessens damage.  If you have lived long at all, you know that the storms of life come our way.  The wind howls and the rain comes down.  Lightening flashes across the sky and thunder rolls.  I'm sure, like me, you have seen all the branches that have broken off the trees and are laying on the ground.  Pruning gets rid of the weaker branches so that the stronger branches can remain, even in adverse conditions.  The Lord's pruning in our lives does the same thing.  As He cuts out those things that weaken us, we are made stronger to withstand the storms that will inevitably come our way.

*Pruning corrects or repairs damage.  I have met so many people who have heart breaking stories - serious heart damage in their past relationships and hurts that go deep.  The Lord's pruning gets in there and trims out those damaged and diseased portions.  As healing takes place, those areas of our lives become useful and fruitful.

*Reasons 3 through 6 are all about getting that tree in the best condition to produce the best fruit possible.  Pruning prepares us for maximum, healthy growth.

*Pruning compensates for transplanting - oh how I love this one. As one who has been transplanted many, many times, this one is a favorite.  The Lord has done some major work and amazing stuff in my life each place that we have lived.  He has used His Word and His people to change me forever.  When He is the one doing the pruning - the transplant is vital and the transplanted one can thrive.  Praise the Lord.

The Lord has a plan for you.  He has fruit that He wishes for you to bear.  That fruit will be used to draw others to the Kingdom of God and to bless the lives of those around you.  The fruit in your life will also be a blessing to you and bring you great joy.

God's pruning comes from His heart to see us thrive.  He desires that we live in His joy, bearing His fruit.

 This is what those beautiful apple trees and apples looked like after they had been cared for, nurtured and ripened. 

Be encouraged, my friend.  The Lord knows exactly what you need in order to yield the most beautiful fruit in your life.  

Just as fruit does the body good . . . 

the fruit of the Lord enriches the body of Christ.

Be fruitful and multiply (blessings that is!)

Monday Musings - Fruit - Part 1

I have been reading Galatians this week and today I came across that very familiar passage in chapter 5, vs 22 about the fruit of the Spirit . . .


But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, against such things there is no law . . . if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (let us keep in step with the Spirit.)


Suddenly, my mind was filled with all these images of fruit!  Not so much literal fruit, as all the imagery that is used in the Scripture to describe our Christ-filled life as it is lived out.


Proverbs 11:30   A good life is a fruit bearing tree


Matthew 12:33  The fruit tells you about the tree


Romans 11  If . . . the primary root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit


Philippians 1:10   . . . bountiful with fruits from the soul


Colossians 1:6   . . . the message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you.


James 2   . . . our faith should be fruitful


So, I would say that the Lord is concerned about the fruit our lives are bearing.    This passage in Galatians tells us that the Spirit has given us this fruit already.  We have it - but we still have to choose to display it.

Can I just say that some of us are hiding our fruit?

John 15 is one of my favorite passages about this subject.  "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."  

Pruning . . . Last fall, Alan and I went to an apple orchard in Minnesota.  Beautiful.  There was a shed at the beginning of the orchard where they had a display of old tools.  I was intrigued by these signs.

So - when the Lord is pruning me, it is to maintain my spiritual health.  He cuts out the dead, diseased and injured wood so that I can flourish in my walk with Him.  Some of this pruning is a bit painful, but it is necessary.

How about preventing trouble?  Oh yeah.  There are those little sins and habits that I start to baby and nourish - the Lord, in His mercy, just cuts that stuff out.


Pruning also controls growth and form.  The Lord is shaping me into the image of His Son.  He uses the joys and trials of my life to mold and shape me into that form.  

Look at encouraging the yield - I love this one.  The Lord wants to produce just the right kind of fruit in my life.  Removing fruit spurs make fewer blossoms (you know, the showy, outer stuff) but it makes the fruit larger.  Hmmm . . .  that is something to ponder.

When I saw this list of tools, I started thinking about all the ways the Lord has brought pruning into my life.  Sometimes, those small one-handed pruning shears were enough.  I was attentive and obedient rather quickly and the pruning was fairly easy.  I have certainly experienced the lopping shears.  OUCH  Sometimes, that dead thing just had to go and go quickly.  Then we moved into the saws . . . Perhaps some stubborn disobedience or a season where my ears became dull to the whispers of the Lord.  The serious tools had to be brought out.  Lord, help me, when the power pruners have to come out.  My prayer is that I will be much more pliable than that.  

Is that enough for you to ponder today?

  

Do you need to speak to the Lord about your pruning?  

I'm going to continue this on my next Monday Musing.  Stay tuned for more pruning information . . . In the meantime, go and bear good fruit for the Kingdom.