FRUIT PICKING

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.