by David Scott Robertson
I just returned from walking on my “prayer path.”
I like to prayer walk a 30-minute path
That meanders through the streets of my suburban Tennessee home.
Each time I prayer-walked this summer on my special route,
I happened to pass by this one house that had four special trees in its yard --
Four pear trees to be exact.
I remember marveling at how many pears those four trees produced.
Bushels and bushels and bushels of beautiful pears.
This summer the limbs were literally bowing and bending over
Because they were so heavy laden with fruit.
Their beautiful green leaves spoke to me of life.
Their remarkable fruit production reminded me of thriving, flourishing, profitable orchards.
Today, my thoughts could easily traverse a variety of steep and deep trails
On the topic of the four trees.
I could describe to you in detail how neighborhood children
Would ride their bikes to the four trees
And frequently help themselves to a delicious and readily available snack.
I remember seeing one boy this past summer riding past me on his bike
With one hand on the handlebars
And the other tightly clutching his shirt filled to overflowing with freshly harvested pears
To no doubt proudly present to his mother.
I could write about the fact that the owner’s of the trees never seemed to harvest the pears.
For the most part, the bumper crop just hung on the branches until it ripened
And gravity forced it to the ground to rot and provide a lavish banquet for insects.
Today our thoughts could wander and ponder waste, stewardship, or squandered opportunity.
I could write about how many professional fruit growers
Might benefit from studying the soil composition and any other unique combination of conditions whose synergy stimulated a phenomenally prolific crop.
In that vein of thinking, we could talk about
Sharing knowledge, pooling resources to heighten quality, discipleship, mentoring, and so on.
But I don’t want to go there today.
This morning, what most noticeably caught my eye and attention
Was the fact that, today, the four trees looked practically dead.
It’s December in Tennessee and it’s cold.
As I walked in the early hours of the day I could see my breath with each act of respiration.
Another Tennessee winter is upon us,
And although they are relatively mild compared to most of the rest of the United States,
The frigid weather and frost nonetheless performs its amazing effect on deciduous trees.
The four trees that had all summer long seemed so alive now seemed so dead.
I stopped for a few moments to study them and noted that there were no leaves on them.
There was, of course, no fruit, nor even any remains of fruit on the ground.
The trees were gnarled and a bit twisted and rather ugly to the average passerby.
When the fruit was at its peak I had never noticed the flaws and blemishes the trees bore.
As I walked off, I began to consider how similar our lives are to the four trees.
King Solomon once wisely observed that
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” (Eccl 3:1)
God has woven into the fabric of our lives a series of seasons in our pilgrimage toward death.
Some seasons are lush and fruitful.
Others seem gnarled and a bit twisted and rather ugly.
Some are a growing seasons where progress is measured by leaps and bounds
While others offer microscopic gains measured in centimeters.
Other seasons provide us with times of sifting and separating
To purge and cleanse and burn away impurities in our lives.
Just like a surgeon requires clean instruments to safely operate,
So the Lord God prefers to operate with clean instruments to promote healthy relationships.
While some seasons are mercifully short
Others linger on for what seems an eternity.
Some seasons are like football teams who finish the season with a 11-0 record
While other teams shuffle back to the locker room with a 0-11 record.
It’s like the difference between receiving the long touchdown pass
And gracefully gliding into the end zone
Versus grinding your way to the goal posts one long, hard yard at a time
Getting knocked to the ground ever four yards before scoring.
Ah, but this crucible is where valor and courage and grit and patience are forged.
Unlike the four seasons spring, summer, fall, and winter that the four trees enjoy and endure,
Our lives are subject to many more seasons that these.
Yet, I am discovering that seasons are a natural part of a supernatural process at work in us.
I believe that not only does our Heavenly Father allow them,
But that He skillfully, lovingly, and to be sure unapologetically arranges them.
Just as each ripe, mature pear on the four trees is a wonderful product of an incredible process
God’s sovereignty masterfully helps us navigate
Through the ebb and flow of our own life development process.
But we’re not talking about spiritual fruit, we’re talking about pears.
Or are we?
For those that have an ear, a heart, and a mind to hear,
Can you receive the truth that the fruit of our lives is important to God?
Father God, unlike the owners of the four trees, is very interested in fruit.
Fruit is mentioned 208 times in 184 verses in the King James Version of the Bible.
“This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8 NIV).
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV).
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb 12:11 KJV).
Today, you may not feel like your life is producing a bumper crop of fruit for Jesus.
You may look at yourself in the mirror and determine that
Not only is your hair falling out but many (or most) of your leaves have fallen off.
You may have imagined yourself (like Abraham and Sarah)
To have surpassed your most abundant, most fruitful, maximum bumper crop season.
I find that difficult to accept.
The seed of fruit resident in you may be dormant for now,
But faith can cause it germinate rapidly and yield a thirty, sixty, or hundred-fold return.
I encourage you to avoid uprooting yourself from the good soil and other unique conditions like
A good church,
A strong friendship circle,
Good accountability from close advisors,
Along with a solid routine of prayer, Bible reading, worship, and service to others.
In due season you shall be reaped if you faint not.
DSR
12/2/01