How’s your Fruit?

An Observation.

This morning I decided to go out and harvest some of our Raspberries. Yes, I know I put them in a Blueberry container. It already has holes for air so, why not?

Last year I planted the Raspberry bush but didn’t get any fruit from it. I was curious to see if this year we would get any? They say sometimes it takes a year for a plant to produce fruit. Low and behold we got fruit and boy is it good! Much better than in the store.

Something I noticed in my hunt for the fruit was a lot of the fruit is sitting on top of the bush, brilliantly colored and easy to pick. Yet some other pieces I had to search for I found under leaves and branches which were also surprisingly vibrant, full bodied and juicy. I thought this was something interesting to ponder. The following is a glimpse into how my mind works with all of its crazy diversions.

I believe God is always eager to speak to us through His Creation so I took some time to reflect on the similarity between the fruit on the bush and the fruit in our own lives. I am in no way a Naturalist, a Theologian or a Psychologist. I do however like to ponder the why’s of a thing and try to learn from its existence and/or purpose.

Whether a person is a follower of Christ or not they will produce some kind of fruit. Some lives seem to be full of abundance and are thriving while others may be barely surviving. The phrase that he or she is a” bad Apple” comes to mind. Meaning they are not one that is producing healthy and good fruit in their lives.

The production of good or bad fruit may have to do with how a person is raised or what they are exposed to. And yet you can look at a family with multiple siblings which are all raised by the same parents in the same exact way with the same experiences and some will grow up healthy and productive while others not so much. Why is that?

I noticed on one sprig from the Raspberry bush, there were multiple pieces of fruit all grouped  together. Some pieces were ripe and ready to pick, some were not ripe yet and some were done- black and ready to fall off. They were all on the same little sprig and exposed to the same amount of light and water and yet at different stages of their development.

In thinking about people, each person is created unique unto themselves and they can develop differently. Some grow up faster while others may lag behind. Even though a group of siblings- while brought up the same way, by the same people and in the same environment- could easily be different from their sibling because they will have different likes and interests, even twins. Though quite similar they all have a different mind.

Of course there is no comparison with the fruit on a Raspberry bush and how it “wants” to grow. It’s motivation etc. It doesn’t have a mind to make a choice of when it wants to be ripe or not, that’s just silly. However the point of this exposition is not to try and explain why the choices are made by a person, so much as it is on the outcome of a person’s choice, and the direction their life takes versus the stages of development of the fruit on a Raspberry bush.

Staying with the fruit that is grouped together as in the picture above and likening them to the children in a family. As more children come into the family unit the parents are getting older and may change their rearing approach for the younger child versus how the older sibling was raised. (For this writing I’m not talking about multiples born at the same time) Maybe the parents have more patience, maybe they have less. Some kids might be more sensitive than others, maybe some are angry while others happy. Some parents may teach a child to be selfish and thoughtless to the needs of others while another parent may teach a child to be generous and kind, always thinking of someone else before themselves. This might even be from two parents in the same household because they themselves are two separate individuals with their own drives and motivation. So people are different therefore will have different likes and dislikes, strengths and weakness’ and paths they decide to take when they are grown and on their own.

I’m sure there have been experiments done on this. Doctors studying a group of children- all at the same age and exposed to the same things- looking for the outcome. I think there was an episode on the TV show Fringe that covered it? Maybe not.

Can a person produce good fruit even though they had bad experiences growing up or were raised in a family of disfunction? Is there any way for a person to change? Maybe a person decides to start a search to change themselves, while they observe others who appear to be “successful”, hoping to find a solid foundation to grow from. Can they have the same chances and opportunities as the other person?

Being a Born Again follower of Christ myself I would say, absolutely people can change, because I have.

Here are a few things that can help a person who wants to change their fruit.

Step 1- Contrary to a piece of fruit a person has to want to change.

Step 2- Bringing in a New element into their life can help in the changing process. Without it and expecting something different brings to mind the definition of insanity… doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, which is often attributed to Albert Einstein, but it is likely apocryphal. So what is this New element? Inviting the person of Jesus Christ to come and live inside you.

Romans 10:9-10 New International Version

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Step 3- Pick up a Bible, maybe the New International Version, and start reading it. It is a great book that has a collection of stories of the good and bad things people have done over the years and the consequences of their actions. It also has great teachings on how to live a full and productive life especially following the life of Jesus.

Step 4- It’s also good to find a Bible believing church and good teacher and/or mentor that has a sound Biblical lifestyle that you can emulate.

All of that is totally true and yet… there are many people out there that know about Jesus and maybe have even asked Him to live in their heart and yet do Not necessarily have what one would call a fruitful and successful life. Why is that? The old saying “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink” comes to mind. When we were created we were given the gift of free will. This goes back to Step 1- a person has to want to change. If they do then God is providing a way to make it happen. 

So how can we grow to be vibrant, thriving and bountiful people producing an abundance of good fruit in our lives?

I have found that the Only true Source that I can rely to make the changes inside of me is the Holy Spirit of God. When an individual with all of their varying thoughts, ideas and experiences welcomes the Spirit of God into their life, a commitment is made by God to change the individual into the very Image of God found in Christ Jesus, from the inside out. I think all will say, given what little they may know about the Person Jesus Christ, that He was a great example of how we should strive to be.

This is from the Message Version in the Book of Acts Chapter 8.

29-30 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him. After God made that decision of what His children should be like, He followed it up by calling people by name. After He called them by name, He set them on a solid basis with Himself. And then, after getting them established, He stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what He had begun.

God made a choice to come to earth in the person of Jesus. He came to take upon Himself the sin that was preventing us from being able to spend Eternity with Himself (sin from Adam and Eve). Through His death and resurrection He bridged the gap between us and the Heavenly Father, for those who believe. Then He sent His own Spirit to live within the believer to begin the work of conforming us into the Vibrant fruit that we were created to be!

The Book of John 14:26, The New International Version. 

26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

John 16:13 The New International Version.

13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.

Jesus speaks to us, through His Spirit written down in the Bible, in the Book of John Chapter 15 vs 1-6 New International Version

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

The fruit that Jesus is talking about is the fruit that our character and lives produce. Notice according to the scripture above “If you remain in me” suggests that we can choose to NOT stay connected to the vine.

Back to those Red Raspberries, some fruit may take a bit longer to ripen than others. For people that’s where we must exercise love and patience allowing others to grow and ripen at their own pace. How do we have the love and patience that we need with others? It’s by allowing more of the Holy Spirit a place within us. The more we surrender over to Him, wanting to do things His way and that are in line with His character, will help us to change into the very image of God through Christ Jesus.

What about the fruit hidden underneath the leaves of the bushes and yet still grows healthy and strong? For this comparison I am thinking about the people who have been so wounded in their lives they need to be pressed in even closer to His protective care. They need a place where they can feel safe from the elements that could wound them even deeper. In the protection of that place they are able to grow and thrive. While they may not be as visible to others they can easily be found by the Gardener, the One Who watches over them.

As for the fruit that is on the surface of the bush ripe and ready for picking? That fruit has weathered some tremendous storms itself and yet has been able to overcome the turbulence and offer itself up for all to enjoy. My focus, for this writing, is not on why the fruit is in different places in the bush. It’s more on learning how we can thrive wherever we are placed or planted. There is a place for all and when we put our trust in the Lord we will be able to see our lives change for the better and begin to be all that we were created to be.

Why would the Gardener let some fruit die on the Vine? For this writing, those are the people who knew Jesus and chose to not stay connected to Him as their source of life. These people could in fact still be in the church grouped together with others who are thriving. They are going through the motions of being a believer and yet inside they are dying. They are likely making choices over and over again against what the Bible teaches and the character that Jesus offers them to be.

To sum it all up, we need the Holy Spirit in our lives to help us to be all that we were created to be. We learn what that looks like by reading and studying the Bible which allows us an insight into Who Jesus was and what He did. This enlightens us to see the changes we want to see in our own lives.

We also need to be aware of those around us. We should rejoice with those who are producing great fruit while we encourage those who are struggling to press in and learn more about what it means to have a fruitful life. Finally we need to be on the look out for those who are in need and withering away. They just may need to hear a greeting of hello or have someone who can come along side them and pour a little water, a little Living Water, into their thirsty soul.

Eventually all of the fruit will die and the Gardener will come and prune back the bush for the next season of new fruit. This is the way of life on earth. We all are here for a short time and in the grand scheme of Eternity I feel we should make the most of our time. We do however have a choice of where we want to go when the Gardener comes to take us away, the place where we will spend the rest of Eternity.

That’s my thought for the day. Now it’s time to go enjoy some delicious Raspberries that are patiently waiting to be gobbled up!