Fruit

  Over the Christmas season we had quite the cold snap.  It stayed colder longer than anytime I remember since I moved back to south Georgia.  For several days, late each afternoon my wife and I went out and put sheets and blankets and tarps over many of our trees and plants. We laid blankets around the roots of our citrus trees.  And then each morning, once it warmed up, we would go and take those coverings down so that the sun could do its thing.

            Here we are, more than a month later, and I have to tell you something.  I do not know if our efforts were successful.  We have two orange  trees, one lemon and one lime tree. Most of the leaves have turned brown and fallen off each tree. But there seems to be green, and flexibility, in at least some of the branches.  I remain hopeful. But until spring I guess I will not know if they are going to survive, much less thrive. 

Two quick lessons occur to me as I ponder my trees. One, outward appearance does not always tell the whole story.  The old phrase says, “You can’t tell a book by its cover.” God said to Samuel, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”  My trees might still be alive. But at this point I just can’t tell.

            Lesson number 2 is this.  I will truly only know if the trees are healthy when, and if, they produce fruit. Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit.” He was speaking of us.  A godly person is known by the godly things she/he does.

            You may find it funny, but I prayed about my trees.  I truly hope they will all survive and produce fruit in the days to come. But more than that, I pray that God will allow me to thrive and produce the fruit of righteousness in my life. And I pray the same for you.