This past weekend my husband and daughter and I drove up in the mountains of Virginia to a lovely apple orchard called Carter Mountain Orchard. It was my first time ever walking through the pathways of such a place, and I absolutely loved it!
I’ve been pondering plenty since I left there… we had such a fun time being together…
and let’s just be real… those apple cider doughnuts have been on my mind too!
But sometimes God blesses you with a fun family day and He also speaks loudly all at the same time. That would describe my experience on Sunday.
To put things in context, I should note that I’ve never been much of a gardener. Oh I’ve tried a few times over the years, and had a little success here and there, but I really have little experience with digging and growing things in the dirt.
But I do like to dig in Scripture… that would be the place I do most of my “gardening” if you know what I mean. And, for the last month or so with our “Me and My Bible” Bible Study, I’d been digging in Matthew 7, where there is a section about the fruit of your life. It reads like this…
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:16-20, NIV)
Having these verses fresh on my mind, as I walked into this apple orchard, these words from Matthew 7 were begging for my attention.
So I just couldn’t let this week go by without sharing the 7 Lessons I Learned in the Apple Orchard Last Sunday…
Lesson #1… When we journeyed into the orchard, one of the first things that caught my eye was how many apples were just laying on the ground. Many of them looked perfect, but at closer look I found that some were actually beginning to rot.
Later when we asked about them, we were told that any fruit on the ground can’t be harvested at all. I couldn’t help but think about all the “fruit” that my life has produced that has no eternal value. Not necessarily bad things, but just things that have no value in light of eternity…
Lesson #2… I was also struck by how high some of the fruit was. Oh we definitely tried to get to it, and had some interesting moments doing so… but try as we might, without a ladder, it just wasn’t reachable.
And that got me thinking about the “fruit” God wants to produce in my life that can seem so out of reach to me. See I know there are things God is calling me to grow in my life that I know are impossible… too high for me… but He reminded me it is not too high for Him, that He has done it before. Oh to have the faith that He still can and still will…
Lesson #3… But we also found beautiful fruit, perfectly formed, ready and waiting to be easily picked…
and I was reminded to thank God for the good fruit He has already grown out of my life… and in the lives of my family and friends…
and to trust Him and cooperate with Him for more of that good fruit.
Lesson #4… But, then there was this… several times during our time in the orchard, I reached for some fruit and then decided not to pick it. Because, as I looked closer, I found the fruit to be malformed or diseased.
I know you know where I am going with this. See, I’d rather not think about it, but the reality is there have been some things that have grown out of my life that are just bad fruit. Ugh! Bad fruit doesn’t just happen… as Matthew 7 said, “a bad tree produces bad fruit”... in other words, when bad fruit is coming out of my life, something is wrong on the inside of me. Much to think about on that one….
Lesson #5… One of my favorite sights though as we walked further into the orchard was trees that were so heavy laden with fruit… they were so beautiful!
I’ve been pondering this image most of all… because that is what I want my life to look like. As I live and move and have my being, I so desire to produce fruit from my life that is rich with the touch of God upon it… fruit that blesses God, blesses me and blesses others!
Lesson #6… But God got my attention with this on Sunday too… harvesting fruit can be messy. See, it had rained pretty good before we arrived, so many of the paths were muddy and slippery. I was so glad I wore my hiking boots…
But isn’t that the way it also goes when we are growing and harvesting “fruit” in our lives? The paths to producing God’s good things will be messy, muddy, slippery… but walking in Truth will make all the difference!
Lesson #7… And finally, this apple orchard didn’t grow in a day… or even a year or two. I don’t know how long it has been there, but I thought about the years of cultivation, time, energy, care and more to produce all that we enjoyed. Good fruit in my life will be grown over a lifetime…
Since we drove away from the orchard on Sunday, these have been the rumblings of my heart and mind, and its been so good for me.
Good for me to celebrate what God has grown, but also good to remind me that I have got to put on my boots and get in my “garden” with Him often and over the long term… because there is more fruit to be grown and harvested!
See I’m not the girl you will often find in a garden or even the apple orchard. Sunday was fun, but it isn’t my norm…
But not gardening my life, well that is not an option for me…
Why? Because I want my life to bear fruit! To bear the character traits of God, the wisdom of heaven, the virtues of Christ, the creativity of my Father, the Truth of God’s Word… I know these are the things God wants to to grow out of my life!
But just like there was great intentionality in the growing of this orchard and the care for it… so must be my response as I seek to be a woman bearing much fruit from her life.
So much to consider from all that I saw in the in the apple orchard last Sunday…
Yesterday my brother sent me a prayer he was praying for me and it included words from Colossians 1:9-10. He prayed that I would “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work…”
Of course I said, “Amen” to that! Yes, Amen Lord, let it be so!
As God always does – your blog is perfectly timed with an online study on the book of Romans that I was listening to this morning. The teacher was in the 2nd chapter talking about God’s judgement on believers for the fruit we have borne or not. I had not considered that before. My life is a lot different these days from previous years so I’m asking God to show me where I can be fruitful and how to recognize that those opportunities probably will look differently than in years past. I can still be fruitful, and should be, even with different restraints on my time. Thanks Sharon !
Dana, thanks for sharing! I love how God speaks and confirms what He is saying and how He encourages us to bear fruit!
Thank you, Sharon, for this piece. It shows me that a lot can be said in few words. It also reminds me about pruning. My life needs to be pruned from time to time for it to produce the best fruit. The longer an apple tree goes without being pruned, the less and smaller fruit it will produce. I do not enjoy the pruning, but the fruit God [roduces in me makes it worth it.
Oh Stan, so true! Pruning is definitely part of bearing fruit, not fun, but necessary! Thanks for sharing!
Such challenging truths about fruit. #4 was pretty convicting as I think of the occasional bad fruit that comes out…and what that says about the inside of me. Praying today, that the Spirit will illuminate the source & help me get at the root for transformation to occur.
Thx for using your gift to edify and encourage the body of Christ to bear much fruit!
Tammy, Thanks so much for reading and yes, #4 was pretty convicting to me too, glad I am not the only one!
I really enjoyed the thought fullness of your analogies with the bible verse and the apple orchard. It really made me think about it deeply as well! I especially liked lesson #3, to notice all of the good fruit in my life!
Jenni, thank you! And yes, we have to see the good fruit in our lives, even as we get rid of the bad! Bless you!
Sharon, wow.. amazing.. spot on.. beautiful. I loved your post. The fact that you took something seeming so simple on the outside and turned it into something deep and meaningful, something pressing thought, is great. It made me think a lot.
Kayla, thank you! I am glad it blessed you and made you think! Exactly what I hope this blog will do!
Great observations of how we are truly in the presence of the divine in every moment. Learning great things from what we as humans view small excursions.
Thank you Rachel! And yes, so true, we are in His presence all the time and when we take the time to look and see, we can learn so much!