You have to watch The Little Man like a
hawk. What is that old saying, “He is
trouble waiting to happen?” The two big
brothers have arrived at the place in life where you can, for the most part,
trust them to not climb the outside of the stair railing, not stand on the
kitchen bar, not climb ladders, not play with power equipment, not put the key
in the car and start it, and an entire list of other DO NOT’s that The Little
Man has tried.
The latest thing he has tried is to eat the
ornamental peppers I am growing at my house.
It seems the reason they are ornamental is they are SO HOT—they will
burn the inside of your mouth. I have
snatched one from his hand multiple times and even caught him trying to put it
into his mouth. Something tells me if he
ever bit down, that would be his last pepper picking excursion.
There are a number of ornamental fruit
trees. Crab apples, plums, and pears are
examples of trees that bear fruit, sometimes in limited quantity which is good for the trash can only. The fruit is not desirable to eat and of poor
quality. So we have trees that often
bloom beautifully, but produce inedible fruit.
The Word talks about Believers being known
by their fruit.
"You will know
them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from
thistles, are they? 17"So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree
bears bad fruit.…
Matthew 7: 16-17
And then we might ask, what fruit are we to
bear?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
Galatians 5:22-23
The question then arises,
are we ornamental trees bearing no edible fruit, or are we bearing the fruit of
the Spirit? Are we dressed in all the
trappings of a fruit tree, but for show only?
Does my fruit bear out who I say I am? Am I bearing fruit which carries the sweet aroma of Jesus? Deep questions for me to ponder.