There's nothing as satisfying as a bite of juicy watermelon on a scorching hot summer day, or the delicious taste of grapes straight off of the vine. They're the evidence of hard work by the gardener's hand and the prize after a long season of cultivation. However, the apple you eat during your lunch hour and the oranges you snack on for breakfast wouldn't be there if it wasn't for the proper care during it's growing season. If the farmer forgot to prune or the plant wasn't watered, chances are there would be no fruit at all. If you think about it, fruit can be a little example of an everyday miracle...and an analogy at its best.
We all face seasons in our life where we are "growing"--going to a new school, experiencing a new friendship, working at a new job. However, we won't see the "fruit" of that growth unless we take care of ourselves properly.
Psalms 1:1-3 says,
The first thing David emphasizes in producing fruit is to be "planted by streams of water." This leads me to question: what does it mean to be planted? It's interesting that if you observe agriculture, all plants have some sort of roots, allowing them to withstand any weather and remain standing, no matter what might occur.
Similarly, we too have roots that will grow with the proper care. Like any plant, water, sunlight, and pruning are essential factors to our growth. Without any one of those things, our roots would be shallow and we'd risk falling at the instant a storm hits.
The Bible often refers to the Holy Spirit as water (1 Corinthians 6:11). Daily, we must find time to recognize and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit with our lives. As an ice-cold glass of water on a hot, summer day, engaging the Holy Spirit through prayer can be refreshing in a dry, spiritless world.
Our sunlight can be obtained through spending time in reading the Bible and prayer with God. Look at Isaiah 60:19:
"The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory."
God is sufficient for us and provides the warmth and the light we need in a dark world.
Lastly, one of the hardest but most essential aspects of growth is pruning. In a plant, typically a flowering one, it is vital for the gardener to pluck the dead flowers so that fresh buds could push through. Likewise, "God the Gardener" must prune the bad so that the new could grow in us and produce fruit (see John 15 for more about this).
God's first command to man was to "be fruitful." The Gardener, who knows his crops and everything that they need, is able to provide the water, light, and the pruning needed for man to succeed in fulfilling God's desire.*
We all face seasons in our life where we are "growing"--going to a new school, experiencing a new friendship, working at a new job. However, we won't see the "fruit" of that growth unless we take care of ourselves properly.
Psalms 1:1-3 says,
"1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers."
The first thing David emphasizes in producing fruit is to be "planted by streams of water." This leads me to question: what does it mean to be planted? It's interesting that if you observe agriculture, all plants have some sort of roots, allowing them to withstand any weather and remain standing, no matter what might occur.
Similarly, we too have roots that will grow with the proper care. Like any plant, water, sunlight, and pruning are essential factors to our growth. Without any one of those things, our roots would be shallow and we'd risk falling at the instant a storm hits.
The Bible often refers to the Holy Spirit as water (1 Corinthians 6:11). Daily, we must find time to recognize and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit with our lives. As an ice-cold glass of water on a hot, summer day, engaging the Holy Spirit through prayer can be refreshing in a dry, spiritless world.
Our sunlight can be obtained through spending time in reading the Bible and prayer with God. Look at Isaiah 60:19:
"The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory."
God is sufficient for us and provides the warmth and the light we need in a dark world.
Lastly, one of the hardest but most essential aspects of growth is pruning. In a plant, typically a flowering one, it is vital for the gardener to pluck the dead flowers so that fresh buds could push through. Likewise, "God the Gardener" must prune the bad so that the new could grow in us and produce fruit (see John 15 for more about this).
God's first command to man was to "be fruitful." The Gardener, who knows his crops and everything that they need, is able to provide the water, light, and the pruning needed for man to succeed in fulfilling God's desire.*
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