Fruit Trees

(Written March 2, 2007)

We just recently bought our first house. It’s a great feeling to own a home. For the most part, the house is great. There are a few things here and there that we would have changed, but it’s just so wonderful to have our own home that we don’t mind those things so much. One of the few things that we did mind, however, was the lack of trees. We love trees, but our yard was totally empty. So, a few weeks ago, my husband bought some trees. There are four fruit trees. Two of them are apple and two are peach. Right now they look like large twigs stuck in the ground! There are no leaves or buds. There aren’t really branches, even. There is simply a small stick with a few protrusions. A little booklet came with our trees. The booklet included advice and instructions regarding the planting of our fruit trees. It was only as my husband started sharing with me the information in the booklet that I realized what really goes into growing a fruit tree! It is exciting and frightening all at the same time. Can we really grow these trees? Will we really see fruit grow from these little twigs?

First of all, a good fruit tree does not simply grow from a seed. Oh, you obviously CAN grow a fruit tree from a seed. That is how God does it, after all. But, in order to get just the breed of apple you want, for example, you don’t just take a seed from that apple and stick it in the ground. You start with the seed, plant it, allow it to grow a bit, and then you take a branch from the tree you want to reproduce and you graft that branch into the small tree you have grown from the seed. Only then will you be able to grow the apple tree you want!

But, grafting in the branch does not guarantee a good crop of apples. There is a reason we have four fruit trees. Two are apple and the other two are peach. A fruit tree does not pollinate itself well. There might be a small crop of fruit, but in order to truly have a fruit crop, you have to have another fruit tree for cross pollination! They don’t necessarily have to be the same breed of apples. For example, we have a Granny Smith tree and a Fuji tree. But, there has to be more than one. The more the better! If we want larger crops later, we will have to buy more trees. They need each other in order to provide a better crop.

Then there is the waiting. We will not see fruit this fall after planting our trees this spring. We will not see them next fall, either. According to the booklet, the trees sold by this particular company are supposed to bear fruit within three years. In the meantime, we have to make sure our precious trees are watered, nourished, fertilized, protected, and pruned. For the next three years, we will work with the trees and care for the trees without seeing fruit. We’ll have the joy of watching a tree grow, and we’ll have some small semblance of shade as they begin to grow leaves. But we will not be able to bite into a sweet, juicy Fuji apple or a plump, ripe peach for a few years.

As you can imagine, the more Doug and I talked about these trees, the more our minds were reminded of Scriptures we had learned over the years. There are so many references to being fruitful. Some of my favorites are Psalm 1:3, Proverbs 27:18, Jeremiah 17:7-8, and Matthew 7:15-20. And a list of “fruitful” Scriptures has to include the “I am the vine, you are the branches” passage found in John 15. Then there is my absolute favorite of them all. In Galatians 5:22-23 we find the Fruit of the Spirit. “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.” It dawned on me that we often think the fruit is an immediate outpouring of the presence of the Spirit in our lives. God, however, created fruit trees. He was not ignorant of the time and effort it takes to grow fruit when he inspired these words to be written in His Scripture. He knew that bearing fruit in our lives takes time. We seem to pour ourselves into seeing people accept Christ into their lives, and then we just assume that they will begin bearing fruit because the Spirit is present. But no! When we become Christians, we are like the seeds that have been planted into the ground. We were born with life and the ability to grow, but it was only after God grafted His very Spirit into us that we were ready to grow correctly. Only then could we truly grow into a tree that would produce the fruit of God’s choosing.

But, it doesn't end there. Doug and I are learning something else about trees - something we'll have to do in the dormant season this winter. We will have to look at the growth of the trees and choose which branches need to be pruned. It seems counterproductive to cut away what growth has occurred, but that is required because when the growth is trimmed back, better growth will follow next spring. We are the same as Christians. We are allowed to grow a bit, but then we are pruned back. How painful is that pruning! How sharp is the blade of God!

But that still isn't all! We started to grow leaves, showing that we were truly growing, but still the fruit was not present. God still was pouring into us the nourishment we would need to grow properly. Finally, we began to show signs of fruit. Now we are learning more and more how to serve up to the Lord our offerings of praise, service, and growth. But, the more we grow, the more we realize how much we need those around us. We want to produce fruit, but sometimes we struggle to do it on our own. Only when we are willing to truly open ourselves up to rely on and help our fellow “trees” were we really able to produce an abundant crop of fruit for our Master. Just like the tress in our yard that need at least one "partner," we need each other - as nutty and fruity as we all may be - to grow properly.

God knew all of this when He referred multiple times to our growth as “bearing fruit.” Have you had the Spirit grafted into your root system yet? If so, have you felt the pain of being pruned? In the John 15 passage, Jesus reminds us that the most fruitful branches are pruned – the unfruitful ones are simply cut off. If you are being pruned, you can be sure you’re growing! Are you relying on those around you to contribute to your nourishment and are you contributing to theirs? What a joy to truly be fruitful! Thank You, Lord, for making me fruitful!

I know this post is long, but I had to "update" this one! Not long after I wrote this, we noticed tiny peaches on our brand new peach tree - fruit that was not supposed to show up for three years! But, the hard freeze that hit the south in March last year killed those tiny peaches. Not to be deterred, those trees grew phenomenally through last year until they'd grown four to six feet in height before winter arrived! Hardships will hit us and will kill some of our fruit, but that shouldn't keep us from growing. This year we already have more than a dozen little peaches on two trees that have only been in our yard for just over a year. We were able to protect the young peaches from this years' late frost, and we should have peaches this summer. As for the apple trees, one has grown just like the peaches and is showing some apple blossoms. The other, though, has struggled. It is no bigger than it was when we planted it because of the frost, a disease that infected it, and other issues with its growth. This spring, though, it is blooming just like its partners. It's tiny branches are covered with green, and it seems determined to keep on growing despite setbacks and disease. All of the trees continue to remind us to GROW, GROW, GROW! Bear that fruit, and trust in our Maker!